Aiko
by Candi Universe
Summary: The book/manga Aiko is about this female shinobi going on adventure with her friends. There is adventures, drama and suffering. This is a Naruto/Boruto fanfiction with a lot of OC's and their own village. These characters will encounter the other original characters from the Naruto and Boruto series but that comes later. Oh, and there are also gay ninjas
1. New prologue

New prologue for Aiko

I had packed everything necessary in my small backpack. I didn't want to stay in my village, not when she wasn't here anymore...

I sneaked out of my house and made my way to the gate, walking in a very slow pace. I wanted to visit some places before leaving.

The first place I walked past was the park which my Big Sis would always drop me off before heading to her mission or training. After playing with the kids at the park, Kamiko would pick me up and we would get ice cream before walking back home.

I proceeded to walk to the ice cream stand that wasn't too far from the park. I would always order vanilla peanut buttercup ice cream, while my older sister would order regular vanilla ice cream.

I kept walking before my need for ice cream got worse.

I also walked past the training grounds, where my sister would teach me how to use a kunai. I felt how the tears was breaking through, I thought that I would never get any better at using the kunai without Kamiko.

I hastily made my way to the gate before I would break down in tears.

When I arrived at the gate, I hesitated for a bit. I turned around and looked at the village I grew up in. I felt a big emptiness inside of me. The village wasn't the same without Kamiko..

After having a last glance at the village, I turned around and in front of me stood Shiori. Our friendship looked questionable to other. But to me, she was my closest friend

"Why do you have a backpack with you?" She asked but I didn't answer her, I just kept my intense stare in front of me. I didn't want to look at her.

"You gonna go somewhere aren't you, Aiko?" I nodded and tried to walk past her but she stopped me by grabbing my shoulder.

"Leave me alone!" I shrugged of her and stared at her angrily.

"You're really stupid, you know?" She said and my raging gaze turned in to a confused stare instead.

"You're really stupid for not caring about the others. Do you even know how the people in the village would feel if you also leave?!" I could hear it was an anger in her voice.

"The village loves you. But if you gonna be heartless and won't give a damn about them and leave, then you have no respect from me! Why do you even want to leave in the first place!?" She stood in my way and waited for an answer from me.

"It's not the same here without her.. If she's not here, then I don't want to be here either!"

"So she's was you only reason to stay?" I nodded. I couldn't hold my tears anymore so I let myself cry in front of Shiori.

"Then find another reason to stay? She can't be the only one. Stay a bit longer and find more reasons to stay so you don't have to leave, if you don't find any, then I let you go." She said and stretched out her hand.

"I don't want too!!!" I screamed. Taken back by my outburst she moved away slightly before looking and wonder. Averting my gaze before I continued, I started to shake rapidly.

"I don't want to have another reason too stay! She's the only one! I don't want another reason, if you can't even see that then you're the stupid one!" I clenched my fist. My anger was boiling inside me. But at the same time, I could feel the sadness drowning me. Shiori looked at me with the same anger as before, even if it was starting to quiver.

"and leave everything behind. You're really stupid for doing that!" She scolded me.

But anger took over again and she grabbed my shirt hard and faced me. Face to face, she stared into my eyes, full of anger like me.

"Why aren't you fighting like everybody else!" She screamed right into my face. She just couldn't understand! She didn't even know the truth! She didn't! Nobody did at that time! It's was unfair, Kamiko didn't even... she didn't even get her own, own...

I looked at my hands. They were shaking and my breath. I was sweating but it was still pretty cold outside. I was losing my mind. All I wanted was her to stay longer! I didn't want to be alone. She didn't have to leave me behind. But she still left me. All alone, again. I didn't want to be alone anymore. It's so lonely to be alone. It's was so dark at home. It's lonely there too. Without big sis... without her it was too lonely!!! With new determination, I finally looked up fully at Shiori.

"Could you not mess with others emotions as you want without knowing what they been through, please." My voice wasn't shaking the slightest, my confident could easily be heard through my words. At first she looked shocked. Very chocked, before she took a step forward again, and gained back her own self control. Then she yet again screamed in my face.

"Well you don't know what I've been through!" Was her comeback.

How could I have know?!

"You never tell me anything so how could I know!" I continue screaming. I punched her back trying to get out off her grip. Because of the hard compact I fell on the ground. Shiori succeeded with keeping her balance though. She was angry, no. More like raging.

"Why would I even tell you!" I stood up looking at her. Why should she tell me? Why should she? Why should she not? Because I was so 'perfect'! Because I was the towns little princess! Because I was a childish with no problem what so ever in the whole universe!

" So it's because I can't understand? You mean you're the only one with problems! Does it look like I would leave if there's no reason to!" I was really angry, maybe almost as angry as Shiori. I looked down before I smiled at it. I could be myself right there and then, I could be angry. Shiori was the only persons I could be with without being perfect.

"Do I look perfect to you?" I looked up as I said those words. Still smiling, but it wasn't a happy smile. It wasn't sad either. I couldn't describe it. But it felt good. But it also felt wrong. Like this isn't something to show off. Quickly, I avoided my gaze from Shiori. It was quiet, she didn't say anything? I started to panic, I shouldn't have let go. Of course she's wasn't special. She only wanted the perfect me. I didn't understand why I say that. However, I couldn't act perfect right now.

"Why should I be perfect!" I screamed to the ground. Shiori was still quiet, she didn't saying anything at all!

"I don't want to stay at home any more! It's so cold..." I started shaking. It was so cold at home. So cold. So empty.

"It's so dark at home. I'm so alone..." I hugged myself in a meaningless attempt to stop my violently shaking.

"It's so lonely without..." I couldn't even finish the sentence before I broke out crying. I sat to my knees before I fell down in a sitting position. Crying and sobbing while holding myself. I must have looked pathetic. But for some reason, it didn't seem as Shiori though that. Surprisingly I felt a hand pet my head. My eyes widened at the comforting touch.

"You're not alone, you have your mother right? And your little sibling is on their way. Would you leave them just as alone as you are right now?" I held my breath. Even if I wanted to prove her wrong, she was right.

"Why would you do that to me" I said, my voice barely a whisper.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing." I answered. I looked up at Shiori, she looked tired. Worn out.

"I guess I have a reason to stay now." I continued. I stood up. Gazing up at the stars. I felt empty, letting all my emotions bottled up had drained me a lot.

"I'm taking you home."

"No, it's alright. I can get back home on my own."

"You're not feeling good. You need to get home and rest." She said and started to walk, assuming that I would follow her.

And I did.

As we got to my house we sneaked back inside my room. I threw my backpack tiredly in the corner before I fell down on my bed exhausted. Shiori, who was still inside, sitting down on the floor beside my bed and leaned against the wall.

"You're not going home..?"

"What if you suddenly changed your mind and tried to escape? Someone has to stop you then" She said and waited patiently.

"Thank you for listening.." I said quietly and I could hear her chuckle.

"I mean it"

"No need to thank me" she said while wiggling her feet.

"Just don't forget what's important to you" she smiled a little and then looked at me.

"How could I forget you? You're my best friend" I said and felt how heavy my eyelids felt. I grew more tired and fell asleep.

I woke up to running footsteps. Many of them ran around as like they didn't know what to do. Slightly dazed, I sat up and looked around, searching for the source of the sound. The hallway outside my room was filled with people, their chakra could tell me that there were many of them running around. I didn't know why they were here. So in search for answers, I stood up and opened the door. Hopefully my clothes not too dirty since last night. I hadn't change them yet.

I recognized the people, they were often here to help with the household when mom had too much to do.

Which she often had.

The many people didn't spare me much time, they hadn't for a while. After time, they had given up on having a normal conversation with me since I didn't talk much. I hadn't since she left me.

Still a little tired, I followed the rush of people, which led me to my moms bedroom. Before I could reach out and step inside a hand dragged me back.

"You can't be in there right now miss." It was one of the more regular people coming here that I actually could recognise. Her brown hair was tied up and she was sweating as she again turned back to her duties.

Confusedly, I turned around trying to see if someone would tell me what was going on. Nobody seemed to pay me any mind. Busy with whatever was happening. To me, it seemed like more of them was just panicking then doing anything that actually seemed helpful.

"Excuse me, what is happening?" I politely asked. The person I had asked wasn't someone I recognised this time. But the fancy clothes told me he was someone important. He looked down at me with which seemed like slight shock on his face, before it turned into a smile and he answered.

"Oh, little miss Shimizu, congratulations, it seems like you are going to be a big sister soon." As he said those words the puzzle pieces seemed to match. Without answering I turned back looking at the door separating me and my mother. I walked over and quietly I sat down beside it.

I sat there for minutes, which turned into hours. Some of the people had tried talking to me, something about eating. But I couldn't think of anything except the baby. I desperately needed to see them. I felt anger towards the small human, they were the reason I couldn't leave. They would be the source of my pain, the lock of my freedom. My small hands tightly gripped my knees tighter around me. I wished they would just disappear.

The sun was almost down when the door finally opened. Another person walked out and gave a genuine smile when seeing me. So many people, just for one baby. Most of them had already gone and the hallways was yet again quiet, like always. I started to question why I was even there. I didn't want anything to do with the baby.

But suddenly, I heard something. A small cry. My head shot up and I looked at the opened door on my left.

Again.

The small cry almost sounded like laughter. It chased the quiet halls away and filled my ears with life. Like in a trance I stood up. Step by step I walked over and peeked inside. Mom was lying down in her big bed, tired eyes happily looking at a something in her arms. Walking over to the bed I tried to look at what she was holding. It was the source of the sound, something small wrapped in fabric.

"It's your baby sister, Harumiko." My mom said. She tilted what she was holding. And I saw her.

Her little face was wrinkled in a displeased expression. Small cries escapes her mouth. To the world it may have sound like annoying cries. But to me, it was something just as valuable as laughter. Her tiny arms were outstretched and flailing around in tiny motions. I reached out my hand and she quickly grabbed my fingers. I was stunned, my world just surrounding the baby. Then she opened her eyes. A small breathe hitched in my throat.

Kamiko.

The emerald green eyes looked up at me. They were so big. My chest overflowed with emotions as the innocent eyes held my own in a lock. They were so much like hers. With permission of my mom I picked Harumiko up and carefully hugged her. Tears were threatening to fall as I glanced at the fragile life in my arms.

"Sorry for almost leaving you." I whispered to her. I smiled at her. I laughed a little at how stupid I were.

"I won't ever leave you alone."


	2. Chapter 1

New prologue for Aiko

I had packed everything necessary in my small backpack. I didn't want to stay in my village, not when she wasn't here anymore...

I sneaked out of my house and made my way to the gate, walking in a very slow pace. I wanted to visit some places before leaving.

The first place I walked past was the park which my Big Sis would always drop me off before heading to her mission or training. After playing with the kids at the park, Kamiko would pick me up and we would get ice cream before walking back home.

I proceeded to walk to the ice cream stand that wasn't too far from the park. I would always order vanilla peanut buttercup ice cream, while my older sister would order regular vanilla ice cream.

I kept walking before my need for ice cream got worse.

I also walked past the training grounds, where my sister would teach me how to use a kunai. I felt how the tears was breaking through, I thought that I would never get any better at using the kunai without Kamiko.

I hastily made my way to the gate before I would break down in tears.

When I arrived at the gate, I hesitated for a bit. I turned around and looked at the village I grew up in. I felt a big emptiness inside of me. The village wasn't the same without Kamiko..

After having a last glance at the village, I turned around and in front of me stood Shiori. Our friendship looked questionable to other. But to me, she was my closest friend

"Why do you have a backpack with you?" She asked but I didn't answer her, I just kept my intense stare in front of me. I didn't want to look at her.

"You gonna go somewhere aren't you, Aiko?" I nodded and tried to walk past her but she stopped me by grabbing my shoulder.

"Leave me alone!" I shrugged of her and stared at her angrily.

"You're really stupid, you know?" She said and my raging gaze turned in to a confused stare instead.

"You're really stupid for not caring about the others. Do you even know how the people in the village would feel if you also leave?!" I could hear it was an anger in her voice.

"The village loves you. But if you gonna be heartless and won't give a damn about them and leave, then you have no respect from me! Why do you even want to leave in the first place!?" She stood in my way and waited for an answer from me.

"It's not the same here without her.. If she's not here, then I don't want to be here either!"

"So she's was you only reason to stay?" I nodded. I couldn't hold my tears anymore so I let myself cry in front of Shiori.

"Then find another reason to stay? She can't be the only one. Stay a bit longer and find more reasons to stay so you don't have to leave, if you don't find any, then I let you go." She said and stretched out her hand.

"I don't want too!!!" I screamed. Taken back by my outburst she moved away slightly before looking and wonder. Averting my gaze before I continued, I started to shake rapidly.

"I don't want to have another reason too stay! She's the only one! I don't want another reason, if you can't even see that then you're the stupid one!" I clenched my fist. My anger was boiling inside me. But at the same time, I could feel the sadness drowning me. Shiori looked at me with the same anger as before, even if it was starting to quiver.

"and leave everything behind. You're really stupid for doing that!" She scolded me.

But anger took over again and she grabbed my shirt hard and faced me. Face to face, she stared into my eyes, full of anger like me.

"Why aren't you fighting like everybody else!" She screamed right into my face. She just couldn't understand! She didn't even know the truth! She didn't! Nobody did at that time! It's was unfair, Kamiko didn't even... she didn't even get her own, own...

I looked at my hands. They were shaking and my breath. I was sweating but it was still pretty cold outside. I was losing my mind. All I wanted was her to stay longer! I didn't want to be alone. She didn't have to leave me behind. But she still left me. All alone, again. I didn't want to be alone anymore. It's so lonely to be alone. It's was so dark at home. It's lonely there too. Without big sis... without her it was too lonely!!! With new determination, I finally looked up fully at Shiori.

"Could you not mess with others emotions as you want without knowing what they been through, please." My voice wasn't shaking the slightest, my confident could easily be heard through my words. At first she looked shocked. Very chocked, before she took a step forward again, and gained back her own self control. Then she yet again screamed in my face.

"Well you don't know what I've been through!" Was her comeback.

How could I have know?!

"You never tell me anything so how could I know!" I continue screaming. I punched her back trying to get out off her grip. Because of the hard compact I fell on the ground. Shiori succeeded with keeping her balance though. She was angry, no. More like raging.

"Why would I even tell you!" I stood up looking at her. Why should she tell me? Why should she? Why should she not? Because I was so 'perfect'! Because I was the towns little princess! Because I was a childish with no problem what so ever in the whole universe!

" So it's because I can't understand? You mean you're the only one with problems! Does it look like I would leave if there's no reason to!" I was really angry, maybe almost as angry as Shiori. I looked down before I smiled at it. I could be myself right there and then, I could be angry. Shiori was the only persons I could be with without being perfect.

"Do I look perfect to you?" I looked up as I said those words. Still smiling, but it wasn't a happy smile. It wasn't sad either. I couldn't describe it. But it felt good. But it also felt wrong. Like this isn't something to show off. Quickly, I avoided my gaze from Shiori. It was quiet, she didn't say anything? I started to panic, I shouldn't have let go. Of course she's wasn't special. She only wanted the perfect me. I didn't understand why I say that. However, I couldn't act perfect right now.

"Why should I be perfect!" I screamed to the ground. Shiori was still quiet, she didn't saying anything at all!

"I don't want to stay at home any more! It's so cold..." I started shaking. It was so cold at home. So cold. So empty.

"It's so dark at home. I'm so alone..." I hugged myself in a meaningless attempt to stop my violently shaking.

"It's so lonely without..." I couldn't even finish the sentence before I broke out crying. I sat to my knees before I fell down in a sitting position. Crying and sobbing while holding myself. I must have looked pathetic. But for some reason, it didn't seem as Shiori though that. Surprisingly I felt a hand pet my head. My eyes widened at the comforting touch.

"You're not alone, you have your mother right? And your little sibling is on their way. Would you leave them just as alone as you are right now?" I held my breath. Even if I wanted to prove her wrong, she was right.

"Why would you do that to me" I said, my voice barely a whisper.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing." I answered. I looked up at Shiori, she looked tired. Worn out.

"I guess I have a reason to stay now." I continued. I stood up. Gazing up at the stars. I felt empty, letting all my emotions bottled up had drained me a lot.

"I'm taking you home."

"No, it's alright. I can get back home on my own."

"You're not feeling good. You need to get home and rest." She said and started to walk, assuming that I would follow her.

And I did.

As we got to my house we sneaked back inside my room. I threw my backpack tiredly in the corner before I fell down on my bed exhausted. Shiori, who was still inside, sitting down on the floor beside my bed and leaned against the wall.

"You're not going home..?"

"What if you suddenly changed your mind and tried to escape? Someone has to stop you then" She said and waited patiently.

"Thank you for listening.." I said quietly and I could hear her chuckle.

"I mean it"

"No need to thank me" she said while wiggling her feet.

"Just don't forget what's important to you" she smiled a little and then looked at me.

"How could I forget you? You're my best friend" I said and felt how heavy my eyelids felt. I grew more tired and fell asleep.

I woke up to running footsteps. Many of them ran around as like they didn't know what to do. Slightly dazed, I sat up and looked around, searching for the source of the sound. The hallway outside my room was filled with people, their chakra could tell me that there were many of them running around. I didn't know why they were here. So in search for answers, I stood up and opened the door. Hopefully my clothes not too dirty since last night. I hadn't change them yet.

I recognized the people, they were often here to help with the household when mom had too much to do.

Which she often had.

The many people didn't spare me much time, they hadn't for a while. After time, they had given up on having a normal conversation with me since I didn't talk much. I hadn't since she left me.

Still a little tired, I followed the rush of people, which led me to my moms bedroom. Before I could reach out and step inside a hand dragged me back.

"You can't be in there right now miss." It was one of the more regular people coming here that I actually could recognise. Her brown hair was tied up and she was sweating as she again turned back to her duties.

Confusedly, I turned around trying to see if someone would tell me what was going on. Nobody seemed to pay me any mind. Busy with whatever was happening. To me, it seemed like more of them was just panicking then doing anything that actually seemed helpful.

"Excuse me, what is happening?" I politely asked. The person I had asked wasn't someone I recognised this time. But the fancy clothes told me he was someone important. He looked down at me with which seemed like slight shock on his face, before it turned into a smile and he answered.

"Oh, little miss Shimizu, congratulations, it seems like you are going to be a big sister soon." As he said those words the puzzle pieces seemed to match. Without answering I turned back looking at the door separating me and my mother. I walked over and quietly I sat down beside it.

I sat there for minutes, which turned into hours. Some of the people had tried talking to me, something about eating. But I couldn't think of anything except the baby. I desperately needed to see them. I felt anger towards the small human, they were the reason I couldn't leave. They would be the source of my pain, the lock of my freedom. My small hands tightly gripped my knees tighter around me. I wished they would just disappear.

The sun was almost down when the door finally opened. Another person walked out and gave a genuine smile when seeing me. So many people, just for one baby. Most of them had already gone and the hallways was yet again quiet, like always. I started to question why I was even there. I didn't want anything to do with the baby.

But suddenly, I heard something. A small cry. My head shot up and I looked at the opened door on my left.

Again.

The small cry almost sounded like laughter. It chased the quiet halls away and filled my ears with life. Like in a trance I stood up. Step by step I walked over and peeked inside. Mom was lying down in her big bed, tired eyes happily looking at a something in her arms. Walking over to the bed I tried to look at what she was holding. It was the source of the sound, something small wrapped in fabric.

"It's your baby sister, Harumiko." My mom said. She tilted what she was holding. And I saw her.

Her little face was wrinkled in a displeased expression. Small cries escapes her mouth. To the world it may have sound like annoying cries. But to me, it was something just as valuable as laughter. Her tiny arms were outstretched and flailing around in tiny motions. I reached out my hand and she quickly grabbed my fingers. I was stunned, my world just surrounding the baby. Then she opened her eyes. A small breathe hitched in my throat.

Kamiko.

The emerald green eyes looked up at me. They were so big. My chest overflowed with emotions as the innocent eyes held my own in a lock. They were so much like hers. With permission of my mom I picked Harumiko up and carefully hugged her. Tears were threatening to fall as I glanced at the fragile life in my arms.

"Sorry for almost leaving you." I whispered to her. I smiled at her. I laughed a little at how stupid I were.

"I won't ever leave you alone."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Aiko

I woke up earlier just so I could visit my older sisters grave.

"Are you proud of me big sis? I'm taking the Chūnin exam today and I will finish it with ease for your sake!" I said to the grave, knowing that I wouldn't get any answer.

"Oh and Harumiko is studying really hard at the academy! It's going so well for her. She is a prodigy, just like you were..." I felt is started to get useless to talk to the silent tomb. But it was however a way for me to seek comfort and stability from my older sister, even if she was gone. I said goodbye to the grave and walked back to my house.

When I got home, I got greeted by my little sister that tackled me in to a hug.

"Where did you go to this early?"

"I was just taking a morning stroll!" Me and my mother never told Harumiko too much about Kamiko. We've felt it was never necessary to let her know anything about the oldest sister.

"But have you eaten breakfast yet?" She asked worriedly but I just smiled at her.

"No, but I will now." I walked to the kitchen and made myself some toast before leaving.

"You won't eat here?" Harumiko asked and I shook my head.

"I'll eat on the way, don't worry!" I gave her a kiss on the forehead and left the house.

Every ninja that would take the exam, stood in a line in front of the entrance of the village, our Jōnin commanders also stood there. My mother was missing however. I also realized that she was not at home earlier that morning either. Suddenly, my mother appeared with Shiori beside her.

"Today's is the day you will participate in the Chūnin exam. This time, the 'Hidden Lake village' will host the exam, our trusted neighbor village we allianced long ago. As you all know we have to go underwater to get to our destination and that's why we have some ninjas specialized in water ninjutsu, but more information about that when we get to the lake. For now, we will focus on getting to the lake" My mother explained quickly. I approached mother while Shiori walked away from us.

"Mom, where were you?" I asked her while everyone exited the village, making our way to the forest wish would lead us to the lake.

"I'm sorry Sweetie. I had to prepare something before leaving" I looked up at her once again, I had a feeling it was something else but I didn't question her about it.

She took my hand and slowly but steady, we made our way to the forest. I smiled quiet to myself, it would be the first time I ever made it out of the mountain. I had tried before. I had made it "outside" the mountain at nights when I wanted to explore for fun. But there's just more trees and mountains, rocks and rivers. It's a long and dangerous way if you're destination is another village, and as I only have a few hours each night I wouldn't have the time. But there is an exception, the hidden lake village. It's not to far away, it's actually the only village we had any contact with. The only problem is that it's under water. And I hadn't learned too much of water ninjutsu, so it was my first time visiting another village. So obviously I was happy and overly excited!

My mother stopped walking suddenly, I looked up to her with confusing eyes. The other ninjas had already walked ahead of us and I was getting worried.

"Is something wro-" she hushed me right away, trying to listen for something.

"Aiko.. this opponent is very strong.. I do not want you to carelessly attack them. Understood?" She whispered and I nodded.

"You knew my presence." A deep voice out of no where spoke. It had some kind of distortion in their voice so I couldn't recognize them.

A masked man walked out of his hiding spot. He placed one of his hands on the tree he hid behind and started to chuckle.

"long time no see Akemi. How have you been?" His words and voice didn't match up. His voice was dripping with hatred while the words sounded like the start of a friendly conversation.

The wind started to blow, making his short cape show us what was hiding underneath it. Small weapons was hanging in rems all around his tight black shirt. Yet again the small cloak hid his secret once again. I looked down to the clothes that you could se even with the cloak on. His pants was pretty big making it hard to know his mussel structure. I didn't know if it was to hide strength or weakness. Things like ropes and other unknown items was hanging from his belt and pockets could been seen all over the dark brown fabric.

" why are you here!" I flinched as I suddenly heard my mothers stern voice questioning the mysterious man. Slight fear started to crawl in my mind. Again I heard my mothers voice warning me about the strong enemy. I worriedly looked back and forth between the two people before me.

"I'm here for Aiko." I got scared as the man knew my name.

"Who is he mom?"

"That's not important right now.." she answered, without looking away from the man.

"Looks like I have to use force..." the man walked close to us.

My mother dashed straight ahead towards the man and punched him right in the face, but he disappeared.

"A clone?!"

I suddenly felt a dark, heavy chakra nearby. I turned my head and there he was, the masked man. He grabbed my throat and took out his axe.

"Aiko!!!" My mother screamed desperately. As he was about to cut my head off, the sound of a stab from behind stopped him to proceed the murdering.

The man disappeared again, wish meant it was just another clone. The feeling of dark chakra was gone so the man might have escaped. Shiori stood behind where the man was supposed to be, she held on to her tantō sword.

My mother ran to me and held me tight.

"I thought I would lose you right there."

"S-Shiori saved me." My mother turned to Shiori and thanked her, she only shrugged and kept walking.

"Shiori! The man might still be here. It's better we go together to the lake."

"Who was that man, lord Yamakage?" Shiori asked but my mother sighed.

"I explain later." My mother said and we proceeded to run ahead to the others.

"Yamakage! We were worried about you!!" One of the Jōnin commanders, Ryota walked up to us as we arrived. She was the the sensei to one of my best friends, Yumi.

"I apologize to make you all worried! But everyone! Gather yourself with your team, and then water specialist will guide you to the 'Hidden Lake village'!"

"I thought you'd never show up." It was Hisashi who teased me again.

"Where is Makoto Sensei?" I asked and he pointed at our Sensei who was talking to one of the water-nin specialists, I think it was Izumi Sensei.

"Aiko, you and your team will go with me, we will be the last one going in to the lake." We all agreed to my mothers decision and waited for the other teams to go underwater.

"Shiori, are you still hurt?" I tried to talk quietly to her so everyone wouldn't hear our conversation.

"Hm? What are you talking about?" She was trying to brush it off.

"Don't lie to me, you were really hurt last night! I was really worried about you.."

"Stop being worried about me then?" I've always thought it was ironic how she didn't want me to care for her, but she had always protected me, like earlier in the forest.

"Shiori... thank you for saving me back there."

"Don't be so careless next time, you could have died!" I forgot to mention that she cares in an aggressive way.

"That was the last one, Yamakage!" Said our Sensei.

"Alright! Let's gather around Izumi and stay close to her." We all walked down to the side of the lake. Izumi, the Jōnin and water-nin specialist, created an air bubble around us.

"Okey everyone. The bubble will move along as we walk, so just walk calmly and normally and we will get to the village in no time!" Explained Izumi and we proceeded to walk in to the lake. When we were fully under the water, it became pretty dark, you couldn't see too much at the distance, but there was still exciting to see a lake from that perspective. There were creature swimming around that I haven't seen before but I have thaught they were called "fish'".

"It's this way." Izumi lead us the right way to the village, and as closer we got to it, the clearer we could se it. The village was inside a giant glass dome!

Before going in to the main entrance to the village, we had to go in to a floodgate. The floodgate emptied all the water and the bubble Izumi was keeping, disappeared.

The main entrance opened and we walked inside the 'Hidden Lake Village'


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Aiko

I was amazed by the beauty of the village. It had a such ancient culture based style.

"I wish I could explore the village..."

"We'll see if we have time at the end of the day, okey?" My mother patted my head as we made our way to the villages academy.

As we all stood in line in front of both Yamakage and Kosuikage, I could feel an immense amount of chakra in one of the students. I stood in the front line so I couldn't really sneak peak of who possessed such a monstrous chakra. Only the presence of it made me very nervous.

"The first part of the exam will take place in an abandoned skyscraper. So we will lead you to the building and get further information there." The old man, wish was the Kosuikage, lead us to the skyscraper. I stayed closed to my mother the whole way to the building.

"Is everything okey Aiko? I never thought you would be this nervous over the exam?" My mother was very surprised by my sudden shyness.

"No.. It's this.. sense of enormous chakra.. it's almost terrifying." I whispered and She put her arm around my shoulder.

"You must be very unused to sense strong chakra like this... I feel it too but don't worry! The person possessing that chakra, is a kind being." She reassured and gave me a small peck on my head. I trusted my mother and tried to calm myself.

I examined the building as we arrived. It's was very much broken and torn, it looked like it would fall apart at any moment.

We all stood in a row again, while listening to my mother explaining the rules.

"The rules are simple:

Get to the top as fast as you can before someone else do.

You're allowed to use your skills to slower someone else or give yourself some kind of speed boost.

You're allowed to battle someone.

Sage mode and senjutsu are forbidden. If used then you'll be disqualified.

No tailed beast transformation." Many of the student got worried, not everyone but maybe it was because they already knew.

"Last rule! No slaughter. You're not allow to kill a shinobi! If it happens then the killer will be disqualified. Are the rules clear?!"

"Yeah!"

"Alright. When I say go then you can start!" We all stood ready for running in to the building.

"Ready. Set. Go!!!" All of us rushed to the opening of the building but it became crowded quickly as the door is pretty small for all of us students who were desperate to get inside the skyscraper.

Some of shinobis started to climb up the windows instead, giving them an advantage. I could have done the same but you were suppose to display your skill, so I decided to start from the very bottom and then work my way up.

When I finally entered the building, I saw so many shinobis who were stuck there, fighting.

I sensed chakra that moved upwards at the right corner of the room, wish meant that the stairs was there. I didn't sense Shioris chakra in that room so I could use my new jutsu without hesitation.

"Chidori stream!" I paralyzed most of them so I dashed to the stairs. The second floor was pretty much the same, crowded with people fighting.

I knew I couldn't use chidori stream too much or I would be too exhausted. I used one more "chidori stream" to get through the next floor and surprisingly it was almost empty, just some fainted people here and there.

As I made my way further up, I could feel Shioris chakra more clearly. It surprised me that Shiori had made it that far because she wasn't the greatest shinobi in our village.

I sudden explosion happened at one of the levels above and I could barely sense Shioris chakra anymore. I hurriedly made my way to where the explosion occurred. I didn't care who stood in my way when I rushed through the building, I just evade them and kept heading to the next floors.

It looked like to be empty when I arrived at the place where the explosion occurred.

I could still feel Shioris chakra because her body still absorbed natural chakra. I never understood how she was able to do it spontaneously. I knew that it takes a lot of time training to even be able to absorb natural chakra so normal as she does.

I could hear her heavy breathing so I dashed to where I heard the sound. When I got there, I saw Shiori with a pretty deep cut on her stomach and corals that looked like to be attached to her left upper body.

"Shiori!!" I Immediately started to heal her wound. I knew a little healing ninjutsu but I wasn't sure if it would even be enough for the wound.

"Don't try. You healing ninjutsu can barely do anything to a simple injury I had last night, then you won't change a thing to my current wound." She said with a quite voice but I protested.

"This is an emergency and I wanna try before giving up!" She sighed and let me try to heal her.

"Who did this to you?" I asked but she didn't answer me.

"Shiori! Who did this to you?!" Still no answer. I sighed and took out a bandage from my little band aid kit that hanged on my belt.

"I hide you a little so you can rest until you feel you're ready to go" I took some broken logs and put them so they leaned on the wall over Shiori, like some kind of shelter.

"Be safe." I said and destroyed the corals on her body and kept going forward to the next floor. The next couple of levels was broken with giant holes on them, it made it either harder or easier for us to get to the next couple of levels with the giant holes.

I only needed to connect a rope and a kunai to proceed easily. I threw the kunai up to at laest four floors up and started to climb up. I realized how empty the floors was. I either was a bit after some other ninjas, or I was maybe the first ninja to climb to the top. I also started to wonder who could have hurt Shiori so bad. I knew Shiori wouldn't upset the other ninjas and just try to avoid conflict and try to go through the levels smoothly, so I didn't understand why anyone would hurt her to the point to almost cut her gut open.

Just thinking about that someone hurt Shiori made me frustrated. I needed to know who did it but there was no other shinobis close by.

As I climbed up to the floor where my kunai hit, I saw Talia walking up the stairs.

"Talia!" I shouted but she already made it to the next floor. I chased her and caught up to her.

"Talia, were you with Shiori before?" I asked and she looked down at the floor.

"Yeah.. we got separated because someone attacked us."

"Who was it?!" I was desperate to know who the ninja was.

"She is stronger than you and if you try to challenge her you probably end up like Shiori, or worse." Said Talia and gave me a cold stare.

"We don't surely know that until I try." She sighed and started to walk away.

"Wait! Can you at least tell the ninjas name? Well if you know that."

"Her name is Omi." She said and left the room.

As I proceeded, I could sense the same monstrous chakra again, it was close and I started to feel nervous. I tried to find the stairs but there were unusually many rooms on that floor so it was much harder finding it.

As I turned around, realized it was the wrong room, I accidentally crashed in to someone. I fell to the floor and got a bit dizzy because it felt like I had walked in to a big rock or something. I sat up properly and saw a small girl with short red hair.

"I thought I heard something! It surprise me to see others getting this far up. You must be a really skilled ninja to be at the top, well almost the top. I'm Omi! Who are you?" She was the girl with the enormous chakra, she was the one who hurt Shiori, she was the jinshuriki the Kosuikage talked about.

I was terrified at the moment. The small girl could make disaster if she so wanted.

"It looked like you've seen a ghost? Are you okey?" She stretched out her hand and helped me up.

"I-I'm Aiko.."

"Oh! You're Yamakage's daughter! No wonder why you're up here already! You probably have natural skills." She praised, she seemed even happy to meet a strong shinobi like me. But I was terrified at the moment, she could crush me at any second.

"You.. you were the one who hurt Shiori..?" Her cheerful face disappeared quickly when I mentioned my closest friends name.

"Yeah. She and a friend of her set a trap for me wish I didn't like, so I got pissed and showed them not to mess with me." She explained and created a coral kunai from her hand, I understood she was after me. I had to be brave. I couldn't let Shioris wounds be in vain.

I took out a kunai from another little bag I had on the back of my belt.

"She sent you for me didn't she?" She said and try to cut me in the gut but I avoid it by backing away quickly.

We clashed with each other with our kunais a couple of times, we also exchanged punches and kicks but we would always block or avoid them. I could feel that she was very strong, even thought I blocked her punches and kicks she threw at me. I knew I couldn't keep holding back. Fighting her wasn't really an option. As I withdrew my kunai, I got a hard kick on my stomach from Omi. It sent me flying and destroyed three walls thanks to her strength.

I spitted out blood and tried to stand up straight.

"You can't hide from me!" She screamed, but her voice was far away so I had time to recall myself. I felt bad for Shiori who had to deal with such a strong opponent.

I suddenly could feel my mother chakra at the top of the building. I followed the feeling of her chakra with caution, as I didn't want to stumble upon Omi again.

I lead myself to an empty room with just a stair to a hatchway to the roof. I walked up the stairs, opened the hatchway and walked up to the last floor on the building. Both the kages and the rest commanders stood in front of me.

"Mother..."

"You made it Aiko!"

"You said she was a kind being! She hurt Shiori!! And then she tried to hurt me?!" Everyone looked shocked at me, especially my mother.

"I'm sorry Aiko Shimizu. I know who you are talking about but we will take this conversation after the exam. You have to focus on it now." Said the old man Kosuikage.

"Fine.. wait, it isn't done yet?" I was shocked as I thought the worst was over, but I was wrong. One of the commanders made a water clone out of me.

"Your final task is to defeat "yourself"" I was already mentally tired of everything and I wanted to finish it quickly but I knew it would be that way.

I dashed towards her and just used simple taijutsu on the clone to observe it. And it was as I thought, the clone knew pretty much as much as I do, it was a perfect copy of me.

I kept on using simple taijutsu because I didn't want to waste too much chakra.

As I proceeded fighting the clone, it successfully landed a kick right in the stomach where I already had been hurt.

That made me think if it was tired and hurt as I was. I decided to test it out as I did a round kick. The process made me wince in pain as my right ankle was hurt from a fall earlier on. Observing the clone I could see it do the same. It was obvious it was feeling pain from it's own ankle.

Landing on both of my feet I tried to breathe for air. I started to thing what I would normally do. What was my weak points? As I continued to think the clone was getting impatient, waiting for the right moment to strike. That was it! I smiled quick for myself not letting the clone know I got a plan to defeat it. I raised my fists and posed in a battle stand, it was one of those cool ones, there not really practical though as you can almost find an opening everywhere. And right now, was my leg wide open for almost any hits. And if I knew myself well enough I would probably make a low kick for my enemy to lose balance. Apparently I do knew myself enough because that's exactly what "I" did. But my plan wasn't to just fall like idiot and lose. Even if that meant I won... I didn't understand what the battle even prove in the first place? Whoever wins it's still me. Getting annoyed at the Kages and the Jōnin commanders, I quickly stretched out my arm to take the planned fall. In the same motion I took the power from the kick aimed at my leg to raise my self standing on my hand. Now standing on one hand I used the other to hold my balance and at the meantime turning around from facing the clone. I now had my back at the confused "me" who still didn't get what was happening. Repeating the word 'work work work' in my brain I aimed the finishing kick. Bringing my heel with full force into the back of the clones head I hoped it was hard enough to make it go unconscious. Trying to convince myself this was the best choice I had. I gained my own balance on my two feet on the floor. My mom always nagged on me for not including above my head as a possible attack zone.

Cursing under my breathe I realised that the clone, still conscious, was wobbling around like an airhead. The kick wasn't good enough! Anger boiled inside of me, not because of Omi, not for the Kages for making the stupid end test, not even at the clone. I was, like always, yet again angry at myself for not being good enough. Taking the chance of the still dizzy clone I sprinted forward making a clean punch with my fist into it's stomach. The clone returned to water and splashed into the floor. I won. Small applause could be heard from the bystanders. I heard faint " good girl" from my mom before I was dismissed. Most kids would be happy that they won. But I was angry for not being perfect.

"You did great Aiko. I couldn't been more proud!" My mother praised but it meant nothing to me.

I didn't care if I complete the first part of the exam with 'flying colors' I didn't do my best, I didn't do good enough.

I couldn't protect Shiori, I could barely give any challenge to Omi and I couldn't fight properly against "myself" everything was just wrong, I could have done better!

"Mom. I'm going out to train." She looked confused at me while I walked to the door and was about to walk away.

"Aiko it is late, you need to rest for tomorrow." She said but I protested.

"Just for a little while! I won't be out for too long." I said and she sighed.

"Fine. Not too late, okey?" I nodded and slammed the door after me.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Shiori

I took a stroll through the new village at late night. The village was very calm, there were just some kids running around and playing, or else it was very calm.

I ended up at an alleyway so I deciding to rest a bit. I took out a cigarette from my back pocket and tried to lit it but someone threw a coral shuriken and cut my cigarette in half, making it useless for a good smoke. I examined the coral shuriken and realized immediately who threw the shuriken.

"It is a strict smoke free village. If too many people smoke then this village is done for it" Omi appeared from the shadows.

"My smoke isn't dangerous" I said and they looked confused.

"Of course it is? It's bad chemicals you inhale and exhale?" They argued but I just chuckled.

"My smoke becomes clear when I exhale. My chakra cleanse and gets rid of the bad chemicals" I explained but they still stared at me. Omi probably doubted.

"Did you sent out the Yamakage's daughter after me?" They changed the subject.

"Hm? No?" I said and took out an another cigarette from my pocket.

"How do know her? She seemed to be very pissed that you were hurt?" Aiko was a weird kid. Seeing me as some kind of important person to her for no reason.

"We don't really know each other to be honest" I lied and lit up the cigarette and took a puff.

"Sure? She seems to care for you"

"It's just because we're from the same village, that's all" I explained and took more puffs from the cigarette.

"You're lying." Omi simply said and leaned on the lamppost.

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"A story time. We don't have to hurry. Now tell me the truth." They said and sat down on the ground like a little kid. I thought it was weird that this person was the same ninja that also tried to kill me.

"Sure. The girl who tried to attacked you, is Aiko. Her family took care of me because I was new to the village. I didn't really live with them but Aiko's Mother watched over me"

"So you're not originally from the 'Hidden Mountain Village'?" They asked and I nodded.

"I lived in the forest before. But Aikos mother found me and took me to their village."

"Then there's no mystery why Aiko cares for you. She probably sees you as a sister." I flinched when Omi said that certain word. A word that I didn't really liked.

"That was a short story. Tell me an another story, tell me about yourself!" They said excitedly, like some kind of child.

"There's not much to know about me.." I said and took out an another cigarette from my back pocket.

"You're probably full of secrets. Tell me about your clan, what clan are you from anyways?" I chuckled and lit up my second cigarette.

"My clan doesn't even have a name, no one knows it's name. But there's something with our chakra."

"And that is?" They kept questioning.

"Members from my clans has unique bodies that makes us constantly absorb natural energy without the training of senjutsu. It's thanks to our enzymes in our bodies. But the constant intake of natural energy makes us go berserk. I'm an exceptional because my enzymes isn't strong as my other clans members so I don't get too much natural energy, so I rarely go crazy."

"That's why you didn't go insane when we fought."

"Yeah" They nodded understandingly.

"How come you lived in the forest? What happened to your parents?" It annoyed me that the person kept asking me things.

"I lived there because my parents left me. I do not know why though." I answered honestly.

"That's sad. Do you have another parents now or is it just the Yamakage?" It surprised me that Omi felt empathy for me.

"I live alone in a shelter somewhere in our village. Yamakage comes daily checking on me and so but not much more than that." I said and stubbed the Cigarette.

"At least, there's someone caring for you."

"Hm?"

"The Yamakage's checks on you because she cares about you, and don't let me start on that girl Aiko. I'm sure that girl was ready to mess me up pretty bad if she was just a little more courageous." They said and smiled at me.

I didn't agree with them. Akemi didn't take care of me because she "cared". She trained me to become something I didn't want to be, but I knew I couldn't do anything about it.

"I'm going back to the hotel. I need to rest." I lied and walked away from the alleyway. Luckily, Omi didn't follow me or something.

As I made my way back, I also walked past the village training ground. It didn't surprise me that I saw Aiko train.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" I said and she stopped hitting the training dummies.

"I would ask you the same thing." She said without turning her head.

"I had to meet up with someone first. You should rest? You looked really tired before, and I'm sure Akemi is worried" She didn't say anything for a couple of seconds but she didn't give me an answer.

"Just a little longer.." she said quietly and started to hit the training dummie again. I walked back to the hotel and went directly to my hotel room which I shared with Talia and Michi.

"Where the hell have you been?" Michi was pissed that I was late.

"Took a smoke, why?"

"It took a really long time for just a "smoke"" she retorted and I sighed.

"I met a fellow ninja and we just started to talk. That's why it took a little while." Michi is one of the kids that came from the orphanage, she was like the oldest sister that cared for the rest of them, and still cared for me even if I had left the orphanage.

"Take it chill Michi, it's just 10 o'clock. She came back in perfect time to sleep." Said Talia who was already in the bed, half sleeping.

"You better be sleeping because we will wake up pretty early." Said Michi and went to bed.

I changed my clothes to some tank top and baggy pants and went to bed, falling asleep very early as I was exhausted from the fight with Omi.

I woke by Talia hitting me with a pillow.

"Wake up. We gotta get something to eat before the exam!" She stopped hitting me and I sat up on the bed trying to wake up mentally.

"Shiori, have you seen my sword?" Michi was looking desperately after her favorite sword. I was very sure that she had brought it with her as I remembered that she carried it on her back when we walked to the lake.

"Crap I can't find it! Can't I barrow your scythe when it's my turn to fight?"

"Of course not! It's my scythe and you always use swords anyways!" Michi and Talia started to argue like siblings. I decided to go and get my breakfast after I changed my clothes.

As I made my way to the hotels dining hall, I stumbled upon Hitoshi.

"What's up Shiori!" He said and patted hard on my back.

"Just tired and hungry"

"Like always you lazy pig!" He said and laughed while we got ourself some break fast.

"Dude I'm really excited for today because on the exam, I can properly kick some asses!" He said and stuffed his mouth with bacon.

Hitoshi really liked fighting people. He never hesitated to go in to a fight as long it's amusing to him.

"You probably end up underestimating the opponent and then they kick your ass instead" I warned him and then he just looked pissed at me.

"You are just trying to scare me! I'm gonna fight them whoever they are!" He said with his mouth full of food.

"Yeah yeah whatever you say" I said tiredly and tried to eat my toasts.

As I ate my breakfast, I examined the dining hall and saw Aiko sitting on a round table with a couple of her friends. I could hear them praising her how fast she cleared the first part of the exam. They all adored and respected her.

"Look at the pretty little princes and her little plastic friends, or servants I would rather say. They do anything she wants. They probably eat her puss-" I punched Hitoshi's face before he could finish his sentence.

"What the hell was that for?!" He yelled and punched me back.

"You're fucking stupid! Do it again and I'll mess you up!" He threatened and I just went back to eat my toast that I had left.

After I ate my breakfast, I went back to the hotel room and rest before we had to assemble.

As I laid down on the bed, Talia walked in to the room and looked shocked at me.

"Did you get hit again?"

"It was just Hitoshi" I said lazily and she sighed.

"God dammit he can't chill!" She started to look in to her luggage to find healing ointment from the 'Howling Wolf Village'. She have said that she was born there but her parents knew they couldn't take care for her so they let the older Yamakage take care of her when 'Hidden Mountain Village' passed by the place.

"What made him punch you this time?" She said annoyedly as she applied the healing cream on my left cheek.

"He was about to say something unnecessary so I cut it short"

"And of course you had too.." she put the Ointment back in her luggage.

"I'm going earlier to the meeting" I said and walked out of the hotel room.

There was barely any students outside the hotel, where we was suppose to meet up. I sat down on the wide stairs to the hotel.

"Well look what we got here!" It was Omi who approached me.

"You again?"

"Hey, you sound like you don't want me here!" They said annoyingly and sat beside me.

"It just surprise me that you are willing to talk to me at all"

"Well, you have very similar chakra as Isobu, so I assume you mean no harm" They said with a smile and patted my back.

I assumed that Isobu was their tailed beast. I didn't remember how many tails Isobu had whatsoever.

"Not hyped for the final part of the exam?" They asked and I shook my head.

"Hopefully I lose my first round" I said and picked up a cigarette and lit it up.

"Hm? What kind of confidence is that? Do your best and try to go as far as you can!" They tried to cheer me up but I didn't really care. I wasn't strong, I barely survived the first part, literally.

"Sure, whatever you say"

It took a little while before the rest of us students came to the assemble.

Aiko saw me with Omi and she got a worried look. She must be surprised to see me with the person who tried to kill me.

"I tried to kill her too" said Omi like if they had read my mind.

"Did you ever kill someone during the exam?"

"Naaah I just leave you at the edge of dying. Not killing you off properly or anything, or else I would be disqualified" they said nonchalantly.

"But you left many ninjas badly injured?"

"Yeah I did" They was very calm about beating others.

This kid was pretty strange. Well Aiko seemed fine, she's a good ninja so of course she would make it in one piece.

"Shiori, are you okay?" I looked back at her, gazing from her and m back to Omi. Reading from the mood it almost seemed as Aiko was scared of Omi, strange as it sounded. Aiko wasn't the type to get stuck with fears as she moved on. She didn't have to fear a lot of people. Seeing as 'perfect' at everything she is.

"Yeah I'm alright. Didn't you notice that at our little 'talk' at your little training outbreak." I answered her question. As I said it she looked back at me with a confused expression.

"We talked?.." she stated very confused.

"When?" She continued. At this point I realized she probably forgot again. Her mind was strange and she could forget really important events in her life.

"Anyway it wasn't anything." I quickly retorted in an annoyed tone. Aiko wasn't just full of talent as people thought, she trained very hard for being in the position she was in. I figured out she might have been in some kind of trance when she trained and I didn't want to make her worry. Well even with training she had talent unlike some people, thinking of how I couldn't even control myself if a rampage was to happen angered me. My clan was fucking useless, can't even control the power the clan was "blessed with".

The Kages finally showed up and walked up to the mass of new shinobis.

"Good morning everyone! Today, you will be participating in the last part of the exam and it will be in a form of a tournament. You do not have to worry if you lose a battle. We will be focusing on judging your performance, rather than how far you can go through the tournament. So do your best even if you feel you're at loss, keep fighting and never give up!"

"Yeah!" Even when the Yamakage had to be serious, she still knew how to cheer people up.

The Kage's and the Jōnin lead us to the villages arena, where the tournament would occur.

When we arrived at the arena, I sat with my usual friends on at the grand stand, Talia and Hitoshi. We all came from the orphanage, but I didn't like it there so I fled and started to live in a shelter alone, but I kept contact with them. Talia was the one who knew me the longest, well except for Aiko, I didn't consider her as a friend however.

"May I get everyone's attention?! Thank you! The panel in front of you will show you two shinobis who will fight in this arena!

The rules are very similar to the last one, except that you don't have to climb and taking advantage of speed and so on. The audience is not allowed to interrupt the fight! Only the Jōnin commanders and us Kages are allowed to stop the battle at any time" I was glad that it wasn't just the Jōnin commanders who could stop the fight. My Kage was the only one I knew who could stop me if something goes wrong with me.

The panel started to randomize the names, and it choose Omi and an another ninja I didn't know. Probably from the village we were in.

The match didn't take too long to finish. Omi just needed to create a big club with their coral. They were very strong, I wondered if Aiko would made it against Omi.

"The winner is Omi!" Yelled the Jōnin commander and everyone cheered for the victory.

The panel started to randomize again and it was Aiko and Akihiko. Everyone called him Aki anyways, it was more simpler like that. Many people in our village bullied him for assuming he was "weird"

He was always collecting scrap and junk. No one really knew what he did with all of it but he revealed it in the battle.

Right after the Jōnin commander let them start, Aki drew out a scroll and summoned a puppet made out of all the junks and scraps he had spared.

Aiko didn't really look threatened, rather satisfied and happy. They're friends so it was pretty obvious why she was happy with her friends progressing. Too bad it didn't take too long for Aiko to defeat Aki.

Every shinobi has at least battled once and I was surprised I actually won my battle, but I knew I would lose soon. I was dozing off until I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder.

"Looks like we be against each other!" It was Omi who pointed at the panel, it said both our names. I sighed and walked to middle of the arena with Omi.

We stood face to face with each other with the Jōnin commander beside us.

"And Begin!" I knew Omi always started with a quick dash against their opponent, so I drew out my tantō sword and blocked their coral spear they created while dashing to me. As our weapon connected in a clash, I could feel their immense chakra and I also saw a silhouette of a big giant turtle monster, which I assumed was their tailed beast, Isobu.

I backed away from them but they kept coming and tried to attack me, luckily I had practiced blocking the past few days before the exam. They repeatedly tried to hit me and I started to panic as I knew I couldn't keep blocking, I would get exhausted.

Omi finally landed a kick right on my face that sent me flying through the arena. I hit the wall and fell on to the floor. I got up slowly and felt like an adrenaline rush, rush through my body. I could feel that I got an surprisingly intake of natural energy, it made me strong but I was losing my mind. Some part of my bodies skin turned to another color, grey. As I stood up, I realized there was blood running down my mouth. I looked at Omi and started to laugh, maniacally.

"You made me bleed! I guess it's my turn to make you bleed!!!" I dashed to them with an incredible speed and landed a powerful punch that sent them flying to the other side of the arena.

"How you like that huh?! Do you want some more?! Do you want me to kill you!!!" I was going insane, I had no control of my actions. I jumped up high and landed on Omi, crushing their body, or so my insane brain thought. I realized what I crushed was just a simple coral clone. I got more mad and started to scream.

"Where are you?! you coward!!!" I heard a crack from the floor beneath me. Before I could even react, I received an uppercut from Omi who appeared from the ground. They kicked me on the stomach, which gave me a good amount of pain. I fell to the floor facing upwards. I opened my eyes and saw Omi with four spear, which they stabbed both my arm and legs so I couldn't move.

"Yamakage-sama!" They yelled and Yamakage appeared and she put her hand on my forehead.

"Golden flows seal!" Yamakage activated the seal and golden chains erupted from my back and changed me down to the ground, making it impossible for me to move at all.

I came to my sense, it also turned my body to normal as well. When the seal was done, I fainted.

I woke up on a hospital bed. My limbs and stomach was wrapped with bandage and I could barely move without feeling pain.

"You finally woke up" I looked to the left and saw Talia sitting beside my hospital bed.

"How long have I slept?"

"Long enough" She said and looked outside the window.

"You never used that technique you were training?" She said suddenly and I sighed.

"I know, I never really saw a good moment to use it" I explained.

"That jutsu would be great right now because we have to go back to the arena, quick"

"Why? I can't use it anyways. I'm injured and I have barely any chakra left" I protested, as I rather wanted to relax on the hospital bed.

"Because Aiko is in the final. And she is up against Omi" I looked shocked at her and she nodded.

"Get up on my back, we're going back to the arena"

Luckily the match hadn't started yet when we arrived back at the arena.

"You finally got here!! You were almost late!" Complained Hitoshi as Aiko and Omi walked to the middle of the arena. I could feel the tense in the audience. It was the hidden mountains strongest ninja against the hidden lakes strongest ninja, they were all excited to see them fight.

"Aiko Shimizu versus Omi in the final battle!" Said the Jōnin commander and everyone cheered loudly.

"And begin!" Surprisingly, Aiko was faster and threw kunais with explosion tag towards Omi but they avoided them with ease.

I felt that people was tossing papers or small rocks on me while I watched the battle. I turned around and saw a group of guys who looked pissed at me.

"Monster"

"Freak"

"Maniac" was I could hear from their whispers.

Talia looked annoyingly at them and changed seat so she sat behind me so the guys couldn't throw stuff at me. I thanked Talia and turned my attention to the battle again.

I was shocked when I saw Aiko on ground, hurt. Omi created a sharp spear and threw it at Aiko.

I couldn't stand seeing Aiko getting seriously hurt like me and I still had a promise to keep. I drew out my tantō sword and threw it so it landed in front of Aiko. I teleported to where my tantō sword was and got the coral spear right trough me.

"So she was important to you too.." I heard Omi say quietly.

I fell to the ground so I landed on the side, so the spear wouldn't burry more in to my body. Before fainting, I could hear a scream from Aiko.

"SHIORI!"


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Aiko

The match had to be interrupted for a while. Medic-ninjas took Shiori back to the hospital. I couldn't do anything but watch them carry away Shiori's half dead body. After they carried her away, I realized Shiori's tantō sword was stuck on the floor in front of me, and the holster wish they dropped while carrying away Shiori, was closely beside the blade.

I stood up slowly, grabbed the tantō sword and examined it. I realized that there was a seal on the hilt.

"Shiori.. you saved me again..." I thought about when Shiori saved me the first time.

My long hair was stuck under a giant boulder so I couldn't move. The reason why I ended up in that situation was because Hitoshi had transformed himself in to an animal, a bird. Little Aiko wanted to chase that bird and ended up in the deepest part of the mountain, a dead end. Hitoshi then transformed back to human and made the boulders fall down on me, I barely made it but one boulder caught my hair. The trio, Shiori, Talia and Hitoshi stood there and laughed at me and then they left me.

I screamed for hours for help but no one came for me. I cried because I was afraid that no one would come and find me. When the night came, Shiori came back and she held a kunai. I started to cry even more as I thought she would hurt me. As she got closer I screamed even more.

She said "I'm so sorry.." and cut my hair so I was free. I felt how short my hair was. Before I could thank Shiori, she had disappeared.

"She was a bit stupid to appear in front like that" I heard Omi say. I looked up to her with hatred in my eyes.

"She was already injured, and now she even made it worse for herself. What an idiot"

"Don't you dare... Call her idiot.." My voice was shaky but I could still make out words.

"Why? What she did was very stupid"

"Shut up!" I yelled.

"It's not stupid to protect a friend! Someone who would ignore their friend is an idiot!" Omi looked shocked at me, but I could see a faint smile on her lips.

After the medic-nin and the Jōnin commanders cleaned up, then it was back to action. Me and Omi stood again in the same position as all the other ones before starting a battle.

"We're sorry for the interruption! We will now continue the battle!" I held the tantō sword tightly as I stared at Omi, what she had done was unforgivable!

"And begin!" I dashed to her without hesitation, trying to cut her but she dodged it by bending backwards because I cut sideways. She kicked my arm so I dropped the tantō sword. Omi tried to kick me in the belly but I blocked it. I knew she always tried to hit the upper body area.

It was still a hard kick so it made me move backwards. She took the tantō from the floor and made a coral knife with her other hand. I was in a huge disadvantage.

She ran towards me but I threw shurikens at her so she had to block them, it gave me time to dash towards her without her noticing, so I kicked her on the side so she lost the grip of the tantō sword so I took it back. As I got a firm grip on the weapon, I tried cut her on the side but she blocked me with her coral knife.

"Why is she important to you? Your other "friends" says that you're wasting time on a hopeless person" I got more pissed that she tried to be Mr. Know it all.

"My real friends, they respect my decision to "waste" my time on Shiori. The others are jealous strangers that doesn't understand my reasons!" I could hear faint gasps from the shinobis from my village.

"And why she is important is my reason alone and no one is allowed to tell me what's worth and what's not, because to me, it's worth caring for her!" I pushed myself forward on our semi fencing so Omi had to withdraw and back away from me.

She dashed towards me and we let our weapons collide once again. I tilted my weapon upwards so she lost her grip more and more, finally she dropped her coral knife and I kicked her on the gut wish made her fall down to the floor. I took my opportunity to stab her in the stomach, but as I did, I felt that Omi's body was surprisingly hard. I felt a sharp weapon against my throat

"You're pretty strong, too bad you didn't realize when I switch place" what I stabbed was a coral clone. I couldn't do anything, if I moved then she would cut my throat. I had lost.

I sat alone in the hotel room. My mother wouldn't get home until late at night. She had to judge the battles with the others and decide who gets promoted and so on. I probably wouldn't get promoted with the bad performance in the last battle. I embarrassed myself.

I decided to go out training again because my mother couldn't really stop me from doing it. When I was about to walk out, I realized I still had Shiori's tantō sword. I needed to ask her if I could borrow if for kenjutsu training.

I felt someone's presence when I made my way to the hospital. I felt their chakra pretty faintly so I couldn't really pinpoint who was following me. I was more focused on to get the hospital as fast as possible.

There were nurses and doctors running around the hospital when I walked in. They were all stressed because they had so many patient that were injured from the exam. I eavesdrop on the medic-nin from before, so I knew where Shiori was. When I arrived at the room I saw two guards standing in front of the door, stopping me.

"I need to give something back. It is important to the patient" I explained but both of them still doubted.

"You know this patient? What's their name?"

"Shiori" they looked at each other and then nodded.

I walked into the patient's room and Saw Shiori laying on a hospital bed with bandage covering most of her body.

"What are you doing here?" She asked with a quietly.

"You forgot your tantō sword, but I wanted to know if I could use it to practice?" She sighed a "of course.." under her breath.

"Do whatever you want. It's not like I can use it right now" she said and turned her head away from me.

"Thank you Shiori" I said and left the room.

I had trained for three hours without a break. I felt that I needed to get something to eat. I walked back to the center of the village, where many shops and restaurants were.

When I wandered around the city, I crashed into Omi. I was surprised that I did not notice that she was nearby, her chakra could be recognized from a long distance.

"Have you stalked me or something?!" I panicked and stood up quickly.

"Well I'm not allowed to follow Shiori anymore so I decide to look for you instead. You're very interesting just like Shiori so it's fun!" She said with a happy voice. Her mix of attitudes surprised me. I was very sure she was a cold hearted murder or something, but I've questioned it as time went by.

"You're hungry right?" She asked as my belly started to growl.

"Don't worry, the foods on me! I know a good small restaurant to eat. Follow me!" Omi was surprisingly polite.

There were many fish dishes in the menu at the restaurant we were in. It shouldn't surprise me as they lived underwater, fish and water vegetable was what they made out of living.

"Have you eaten any of this dishes? I have to say, my village do great fish dishes! It's the best and they also have an vegetarian variants of all of them!" The cold hearted murder don't eat meat, cool.

"No.." I said shyly.

"Oh? Well let's try my favorite menu. It's number 1. It's rice, Salmon and seaweed as "salad"! It taste so good! Oh and I won't have any salmon but you have one!" She said with a happy tone.

I was doubting eating the food we had ordered when we found a table to sit on. Seaweed tasted really weird and I didn't really like it.

"It's okey if you don't like the seaweed, I can take it!" She said politely as I scooped all the seaweed to her plate.

I proceeded to eat the rest of the food and it was surprisingly delicious!

"See? It's good!" Omi could see on my face expression that I enjoyed the food she had recommended.

At first it felt weird that she was so kind to me, I wanted to be mad because of what she had done to Shiori, but she had been kind after the exam and she claimed that she and Shiori was cool with each other.I didn't know if I could trust her but I guess I had to be decent towards her.

I thanked her for the food after I was done eating and she gave me a smile.

"So, how is it to have a Kage as your mother?" She asked curiously.

"Good I guess, I learn much from her" Honestly, my mother hadn't really taught me anything new up until then, so I've been learning more from others and myself alone.

"That's really cool! You get so much experience in such a short time compared to others!" I agreed with the experience part.

She started to talk about how fun it is to create a weapon with in a second in her hand. It made me think if she ever knew any ninjutsu or if she only relied on her bukijutsu and corals. If I knew this before then maybe I had a bigger chance of winning in the exam, I thought I was pathetic not realizing that earlier.

"I shouldn't be bragging, I mean you're a lot better at taijutsu than me! Well you didn't seem that at first in our first fight but then when we fought again in the arena, you clearly made a great progression, and that was only about a day! You're very impressive Aiko" She praised and the only thing I could say was a simple thank you.

As fast as I walked into the hotel room, my mother crushed me in a caring embrace.

"There you are, I thought you had gone missing for a moment!!" She stated worriedly.

"I'm sorry mom I was at the plaza and ate" I explained.

"Oh! I should have prepared something for you before work. I'm so sorry you must have starved!" My mother was worried, it shouldn't surprise me because of what happened to Kamiko..

She proceeded to ask if I had money to pay for the food but I said that someone had paid it for me.

"Oh? Who was it? I should thank the person giving you free food"

"It was Omi.."

"Ah it's the jinshuriki. See? I told you she was kind!" She said with a happy tone.

"But what she did to Shiori? Was that kind?!" I was frustrated that even mother saw past what Omi did to my friend.

"And what happened to Shiori at the exam? Why did she change like that? Why did she started to act like that?!" It was so much I didn't understand about what happened at the arena.

My mother looked at me with even more worry in her eyes.

"You knew this all along didn't you?"

"I explain everything when we get back home okey?" I wasn't okay with it, but I was so exhausted from my training so I let the answer wait.

"We both should go to sleep, we leave early tomorrow"

"So we won't announce the result here?" I questioned and she nodded.

"Alright then" I said and prepared for bed.

We all had assembled at the entrance of the village, we said our goodbyes to each other before leaving.

When we finally made on to the land, both Yumi and Fumiko joined me to walk back to our village.

"So how are you Aiko? You seem a bit dull?" Asked Fumiko and I just shrugged.

"Just tired I guess"

"I understand that. I mean you worked really hard yesterday! You should be proud of yourself" reassured Yumi and patted me on the shoulder. I smiled at her and kept looking forward.

"Something is bothering you. It looks clearly on your face" said Fumiko and grabbed my wrist.

"It's just about the exam!"

"Is it because you lost the final battle?" I flinched when she realized what was making me a bit off.

"Aiko. You did your best and you did great. You can't make everything perfect. It is okey to make mistake so we can learn from them and become better. You should know that? You always work hard after you've done mistakes" Fumiko's comforts was very straightforward but I guessed that was what I needed.

"You are amazing. You shouldn't forget that!" Said Yumi and gave me a quick hug.

More of my friends surrounded us as we walked together. There always many people in my age that wants to be close to my presence, I knew many of them just wanted to be friends with me because I'm "famous". I'm the daughter of our village Yamakage. There were a few that I actually considered trustworthy as a friend.

I knew Yumi and Fumiko since I started to play in the park when I was a little child, so we were all close friends. Fumiko is skilled at healing techniques and it didn't surprise me that she'd become a medic-nin, she also had a very motherly nature so many sought for her comfort.

Yumi was admired by many people by her beauty, especially her hair because it had a snowy white color. It was a shame because her face is just as beautiful.

Aki was also an important friend of mine. We had made memories worth keeping. He had been bullied for very long, many teased him to be poor just because he collected random junk. When I saw his puppet made of the junk he had saved, it made me proud that he could turn those random parts into something so effective.I had never been aware of his training as a puppeteer so I was proud to see him become strong and creative.

Emi was a good friend too, she was an orphan who admired me with good reasons. She looked up to me because I worked hard to protect my friends, and I'm happy that I had met her. It's too bad that the rest of the kids that lived in the orphanage, forced her to avoid me. Luckily she was determined to spend time with me. I felt blessed to be her friend.

"Aiko! I'm so sorry that you had to express yourself like that yesterday!" It was Shinju who shouted for me, she was referring to my outburst on Omi.

"It's disgusting how people don't respect you and your opinions, it's better to stay with the friends that are loyal, right?" She pushed everyone aside so she could be close to me.

I nodded to her statement and turn my sight to Yumi and Fumiko. I smiled at them and got flashback from what we have been through together, I thought that they were the first friends I made as a kid.

Shinju was somewhat different. She was kind and loyal to me but she was rude to others behind my back, she was especially rude against Shiori and Aki.

It had gathered too many people around us, it made me a bit anxious. I stopped my pace and so did everyone else. I turned around to them and gave them a shy smile.

"I'm sorry. It's a bit too much, I'm gonna go alone for a bit to calm my mind" I dashed forward to get away from the other shinobis, many of them probably got confused by my sudden act but I knew that Fumiko and Yumi knew what was going on.

As I dashed forward, I found Aki walking close to our Jōnin teachers and commanders. I stopped dashing through the trees and landed beside Aki, joining his company instead.

"Hi Aiko! You're actually alone for once" He teased and I chuckled.

"I hope you didn't take it too hard that I made you lose in the tournament" I apologized but he patted my back as reassurance.

"Don't feel bad about it. You won fair and square, and you helped me realizing what I can do better with my puppet, so it was a win win to me!" He explained and showed me the scroll that contained his broken puppet.

"I know you made the puppet of parts you collect around the village, but how do you get all of it? Everything can't be from all the trash cans right?" I asked as he giggled.

"Well I have my contacts! I get my parts from a couple of people" he had a grin on his face that made me a bit worried, but if he was actually hanging with the wrong people I would have felt it, so there was nothing to worry about.

"By the way, what happened to the girl Shiori? She got demolished by Omi" I flinched as he reminded me of what happened to Shiori.

"I'm not sure of her current condition, I just know that there's medical ninjas that helps Shiori to get back home" I explained and he nodded.

"Why did Shiori protect you? Don't you guys usually argue or fight?" He asked shyly and I felt guilty for the whole situation. If I had been more carefully, then Shiori wouldn't have to protect me in the first place. I understood it was a surprise to the other of Shiori's "sudden act", the only thing they have seen is us being troublesome to one another but behind all those fights and argues, we considered each other as friends, I knew that deep down. Shiori saw the same thing and that's why she protected me from the very start back then when we were younger.

We all stood in front of our school. Everyone was nervous about the outcome of their's performance in the exam. I didn't really care how it ended up for me, I already knew that I didn't do enough.

"Nobu!" My mother would call us up on the "scene" and reveal if we passed the exam or not. If we passed, then my mother would give us a scroll which contained our new ninja rank, what mission we are allowed to choose and your name and my mothers hand signature.

After I had dozed off, I could hear my mother shout for me.

"Aiko Shimizu! It is your turn!" I flinched for a second and then walked to my mother.

"Aiko, you've worked greatly on the exam. Showing good skills in ninjutsu, taijutsu and even kenjutsu! The rest of the judges was amazed of your capabilities, and that is why we decide to make you a Chūnin ninja!" My heart skipped a beat. I had passed the exam!

She gave me the scroll and I opened it immediately, I read it quickly but realized it said something more than what I recapped in my mind before. My mother herself had write at the end of the scroll: "The judges thought you're skills was over Chūnin skills so we decided to let you participate on the Jōnin exam next year"

I couldn't believe my eyes, the judges thought that I was good enough to be a Jōnin so quickly. I knew I would be set in another group, or team if I take the exam early, and I assumed that Shiori didn't pass the exam as she presumably got killing instinct. I still needed answer to her weird behavior.

"Mom... I'm sorry but I can't become Jōnin so soon" I said with a shy smile and I heard the crowd gasping.

"Why not? We think that you should be in the rank that you deserve!" My mother argued but I shook my head.

"I can't leave my other teammates, I mean Shiori is still a Genin, isn't she? You know I can't leave her. So I wait to become a Jōnin a while longer" I explained and my mother sighed with a smile.

"Alright, if that's what you want" she said and let me go back to my place. Hisashi who stood beside me, patted my shoulder and said that I made a great decision.

The announcement had ended and it didn't take too long to get "attacked" by Emi.

"Congratulation on becoming a Chūnin Aiko! You're really kind to wait for the exam with the rest of your friends!" I blushed by the praise she gave me and I gave her a smile.

"I've been training since you been gone. I wanna show you what I've practiced!" I sighed as I've been exhausted the whole day.

"I'm really sorry Emi but I'm tired from the whole exam. But I can watch while you practice on a dummy?" I asked and she nodded excitedly.

I followed her to the training grounds and watched her using her taijutsu skills, she did had improved greatly as I remembered that her combat skill was a bit sloppy at times.

She made the hand seals: Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit and Tiger. She started to spewing several small fireballs on the dummy and set it on fire.

I didn't know if I should have been impressed that she learnt the "Phoenix flower nail crimson jutsu" so fast in a short period of time, or be worried about the burning dummy.

"That is really impressive but I got to put the fire out!" I said hastily and created a big ball of water which I threw to the dummy and the fire disappeared.

"Wait a second, I didn't know you could use water Justus!" She said shockingly.

"Well I don't know so much how to use water ninjutsus so I don't use it too often! But I will practice more so I can use water releases regularly" I explained and she didn't hesitate to ask me if I could teach her water jutsu later on.

"We'll see, I don't even know yet if I'm good at it or not?" I shrugged but she thought I was talking bullshit.

"But you're a Shimizu! You're always amazing and good at whatever you do! You're gonna master water jutsus in no time, believe me!"

I finally came back home after the endless talk with Emi and many others from the village that wanted to congratulate me for becoming a Chūnin. I've got so many flowers and gifts from them all, I felt so flustered of all the rewards that I didn't really deserve but I couldn't do much but thank them and accept the presents.

"Congratulation Aiko!!" Harumiko tackled me in a hug so I dropped the bags with the flowers and presents.

"I knew you could do it! You're really kind for thinking about your friends" It was a surprisingly hard hug she gave me as it made difficulties for me to breath.

"Thank you Harumiko..! But how did you get to know it already?"

"Duh, the whole village is talking about you!" She said and gave me a small kiss on the forehead.

"Can you watch me practice before Momma comes home? I've gotten stronger since you left!" She was really excited but I had to turn her down.

"I'm sorry but I'm really tired, can't we just take it easy?" I asked and she looked a bit disappointed.

"I guess another time then? Should I make something so we can eat?" I was happy that Harumiko knew how to cook, especially when our mom wasn't home all the time. If I was the one who was put in the kitchen then something would start to burn.. it didn't make it better that I had an affinity for fire release.

I followed my younger sister to the kitchen. While she started to roast some chicken, I was sitting at the kitchen table and started to open some of the gifts I got before. Many of the gifts was either some ryō or new shining weapons. I guessed that mother's talk made the villagers think that I'm some kind of kenjutsu master or something?

"You've got so many different weapons! Can't I have some of them?" She asked as she boiled the rice.

"We'll see what moms thinks about it" I didn't really see what my little sister had any use of the weapons I had gotten. Her specialties was creating weapon with the help of water jutsu, she usually used a kind of water whip as her main weapon, she was very skilled at it. She was the real "kenjutsu" genius, or bukijutsu genius. Yeah that fitted more perfectly.

As Harumiko just finished our food, our mother came home, singing some kind of congratulation song? It was probably something she just came up with.

"Aiko! I have something for you!" She walked into the kitchen with more flowers and presents. I sighed happily and received the gifts from mother, I also gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"This one is personally from me!" It was a long present, I could already figure it out that it was a some kind of sword. I took a pause opening the gifts and ate dinner.

"But we can train tomorrow right?" Asked Harumiko and I nodded.

"You're so tired already? You always have energy to spar with Harumiko?" I understood why mother was surprised, I never said no to sparring with my younger sister, we even sparred in the middle of the night sometimes without our mother knowing anything.

"Yeah, first I had to keep up with Emi, then there were many people who wanted to congratulate me and give me all of these gifts!" I pointed at the pile of gifts at the corner of the kitchen. She looked at them and realized what she had done.

"Maybe they took the "kenjutsu" thingy a bit too serious.." she said with an awkward smile on her face.

"Yeah, but don't worry! Harumiko can teach me kenjutsu and bukijutsu!"

"What..?" She asked confusedly with her mouth filled with chicken. I patted her head and we finished eating our food. We put the dishes on the sink and Harumiko went up stairs to her room while I finished opening up the rest of the gifts. I finally got to open my mother's present and I teared up by what the gift contained.

"This is.. Kamiko's Kunai sword. Mom, I don't deserve this!" I said and tried to give it back to her.

"No, you do deserve it. Kamiko has always wanted to pass the sword to you" She gave me a hug and let me cry on her shoulder.

"It's okey Aiko, it wasn't your fault!"

"Of course it was!" I argued but she patted my back and kissed my cheek.

"She was already sick sweetie. She knew what was coming and wanted to get over with it" she tried to reassure me with excuses.

"Kamiko died because of me.. and Shiori almost died because of me too!"

"She did it for you, she wanted to protect you!"

"She did it because she felt she had too!" Mother knew it was no use in arguing with me at the moment, I always blamed myself for situation like those.

"Aiko. You remember that Shiori went berserk and had killing intent in a battle before your final? Those killing instincts doesn't disappear immediately for her, but because of her strong will to protect you back then, she was able to put those instincts aside and do what she wanted to do, protecting you" As she reminded me of the exam, I grabbed her by the collar of her kage cloak and looked straight into her eyes.

"I want answer about Shiori.. right now!" My mother grabbed my wrist and lead me to our living room.

"I'm not really sure where to start. What do you really want to know exactly?" She leaned back on the sofa and looked at me.

"Why did she started to behave like a lunatic?" She sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

"It's her kekkei genkai. You have realized that her body can absorb nature energy passively? Well.. too much intake makes her go berserk. Shiori is a bit special, her body doesn't absorb as much as other member of her unknown named clan does, so we didn't really had to worry about her going crazy but I guess, that is a mistake" she explained. For me, it was mind blowing to know, as I knew that for a regular ninja, it takes a lot of time to be able to absorb nature energy and use senjutus, but for Shiori, it was a piece of cake, kind of. I knew that Shiori was something else.

"Isn't there.. anything that can help her with these outbreaks?" I asked but my mother shook her head.

"Not really. I have put a seal on her that should suppress it but.. it didn't help that much as you saw" Knowing that nothing could help Shiori, made me more determined to protect and help Shiori so she didn't have to hate herself, as it was one of the main reasons why she was such a pessimist.

"And that teleportation technique she used? How did she learn it? I thought only my Big Sis knew that jutsu from our village?" I asked and she frowned.

"You're right, I was also shocked when I saw her use flying raijin jutsu. I'm not sure if I'm going to be honest." I said okey and decided to give Shiori back her tantō sword.

"Mom.. I need to visit Shiori real quick. I won't be out late, I promise!" My mother smiled and waved me off.

The doctors told me that they had moved Shiori back to the orphanage, I knew she hated it there so I kinda expected to see a halting Shiori nearby but nope. I was very surprised to see her laying in the bed, in her "old" room. She still had pretty much bandage all over her body, but it was less blood on the injuries so she was healing quickly.

"What are you doing here..?" She asked tiredly as I gently sat beside her on the edge of the bed.

"Am I not allowed to visit my friend?" I said but she looked away from me.

"Shouldn't you be celebrating or something..?" She was suddenly very bitter in her tone, but I guessed it was because she didn't pass the exam, and even if she did, she wouldn't really have anyone to celebrate with.

"Well I'm gonna do it, with you!" I took out a box of fries from a plastic bag that I ordered before getting to the orphanage. She tried to reach for it hastily but got interrupted by the pain of her injuries. I sighed and laughed a little at her attempt to desperately get her favorite food despite being badly hurt.

"Don't worry, I feed you"

As I was feeding Shiori, a small child with short, curly black hair, walked into the room with small lunchbox that I recognized pretty quickly.

"Gina?"

"This is for you!" The baby put the lunchbox besides us.

"Hmf.. so it wasn't you after all..." Shiori has daily received lunchbox from an "unknown person" and Shiori scolds me for being the person responsible for it. She always babbling about that she didn't needed the food and that she would be fine without them, but I already knew she secretly liked the food very much.

"Told you! But I know who's making them" I admitted and Shiori just looked annoyed at me.

"are you gonna tell me who it is?"

"Nope"


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Shiori

A week had passed since arriving at the orphanage. I hadn't completely healed yet but my legs was a lot better so I could walk, but in a slow pace.

"Shiori! You got a lunchbox again!" Gina came in with the same lunchbox that I've been receiving since I started to live in that shelter.

I thanked her and took the lunchbox. It contained rice with chicken curry. I had pondered a bit who would possibly waste money and time to give me food. It wasn't Hitoshi because he doesn't know how to cook, Talia knows basic cooking but I knew she didn't make delicious food like the one I received, Aki doesn't even have time to cook because of his work, Michi has no skills in cooking either. I really couldn't figure out who it could be.

"Can I have some?" I never shared the food I got, but since I got to know little Gina, I changed my mind.

Gina was a very young child, she was new to the orphanage when I arrived back from the exam and the hospital moved me back to my old "home"

Gina was confused why an older girl was laying injured in the other bed on the other side of the room. She was very shy. Gina could barely look at me if I looked back or caught her staring. It didn't take too long for her to start approaching me. It started with that she shared candy with me,. Every time she got the chance, she would give me candy. I didn't want to be rude towards the kid so I accepted her candies. I think that made her more confident to talk to me. It ended up that she liked my company, she even moved to my bed if she got a nightmare.

We finished eating the food and I threw the lunchbox in to the trash can.

I laid down on the bed again, not knowing what to do. I couldn't really escape the orphanage just yet. I could go outside but didn't really had a reason because I would end up returning to the building anyways. I couldn't really hang out with the others at the orphanage, some of them saw me as a traitor for leaving them. It was safer to stay in the room, even if it was boring.

I looked at the small drawing pad that Gina had given me a couple of days ago. I already had drawn on every page in it. She claimed that she couldn't find anymore drawing pads for us so she had started to draw small random doodles on our room's wall. When the midwife saw the doodles, they immediately scolded Gina for ruining the walls, she then came to cry in my shoulder after they were done scolding her.

"Shiori, can we go to the park?" I didn't understand why she wanted me to follow her to the park all of a sudden. I didn't really play with her anyways, I was just a boring person watching over her.

I slowly sat up on the bed and then proceeded to follow her.

"I'm taking Gina to the park"

"Alright. When it's seven o'clock, then you have to back!"

"Sure" the midwife just sighed and let us go.

People still looked weirdly at me when I had made it to the park with Gina. It was still some bloodstain on the bandage but it was much worse before.

Gina was making sand castle at the sand box while I sat and relax on a bench near by.

"Look at my castle, Shiori!" She had made the small castle of the form of a sand bucket, she also had used small rocks as a decoration for her sand castle. I told her it was very pretty and she gave me a bright smile.

"Hey! Who said you could build castle on our territory?" two other kids that were bigger than Gina, approached her and started mocking her. They even destroyed her castle by stomping it!

"We gonna show you what happens when you build castle without asking us!" I tried to step in but my pain hindered me from doing any quick movement, luckily, someone stepped in for me.

"Tsk tsk. Two against one is not fair" It was Etsuko and Talia who protected Gina. Talia used her scythe to destroy the the bullies sand castles.

"Now it's fair" the bullies got scared and ran away from the park.

"Thank you Etsuko and Talia!" Gina went to both of them and hugged them.

"Even when you're lazying around, you till get in trouble" Said Talia and sat beside me.

"Not that I really asked for it" I rolled my eyes and then payed my attention to Gina who tried to build another castle with Etsuko.

Etsuko never attended to the ninja academy, she didn't really want to become a shinobi like everyone else. She said that she want to support our village in an another way. I guessed she wanted to work with the orphanage, she loved taking care of the smaller kids.

"It surprises me she isn't scared of you" Talia was talking about Gina. Younger children tends to get scared of me because of how the rumors have spread over the village, well they weren't really rumors either.

"She was in the beginning. But she became more brave over the time so she isn't afraid anymore" I explained as Talia switched her gaze between me and Gina.

"That's very impressive" she teased and patted my shoulder. I took out a cigarette and took a smoke.

"Hmm.. you shouldn't be smoking around little Gina" said Talia worriedly and I shook my shoulders.

"I've barely smoked since I moved in to the orphanage again, and it's not that dangerous when I smoke" I protested and she just nodded.

"Shiori, Look at my new castle! It's even bigger now!" The sand castle had become a sand fortress. I could see clearly that Etsuko had helped Gina with the sand building. I told her once again it was beautiful and she was still happy with the answer.

We all went back to the orphanage together. It didn't take too long that Gina started to draw on the walls again in our room.

"I'm gonna paint the whole room" she said quietly. I looked at her and wondered why she kept drawing on the walls, even though she knew that the maids might yell at her again.

"You want to draw too?" Gina had a crayon for me. I was bored anyways so I joined her and started to draw on the walls. Luckily, the maids never really went to our room and checked or anything, so we could draw without interruption until late at night.

"I'm tired now. I'm going to bed!" She gave me a hug before heading to bed. I continued drawing, without thinking about the time. I didn't realize anything until I saw the clock wish said it was 5 five in the morning. I put away the crayon and went back to my bed, apparently, Gina had moved to my bed to sleep. I felt bad that I drew the whole night instead of caring for Gina.

I carefully laid down in the bed without waking her up, and wrapped my arms around the little girl.

I woke up by the smell of toast. I opened my eyes and saw Gina holding a big plate with toasts and fried eggs. I thanked her for bringing the breakfast to our room, and ate one of the toasts with fried egg. I looked at the walls and realized that we already had covered a whole wall with doodles, we even had started a bit with the second one.

"Can we draw together again?" It surprised me that she didn't want to got to the park that time.

I joined her and drew on the walls once again, we drew for hours, we took pauses of course because our wrists ached a little, but it didn't take too long until we went back to draw again.

I heard a knock on the door, it opened and I recognized the persons voice immediately.

"Hi Shiori! I brought you your favorite- what heck have you done?!" I turned around my head and saw a very shocked Aiko with a box which probably was filled with fries.

"Are you so bored..?" She asked and I nodded as I went back to drawing.

"Can you two at least take a break and eat some fries?"

"Fries?!" Gina went immediately to Aiko and opened the box. I couldn't really resist when I felt the scent of fries, so I sat down on my bed with Aiko and Gina.

"Our team misses you" she said but I didn't really believe her. I just kept eating the fries.

"It's gonna be great when you get better and we can finally work as a whole team!" I already knew I didn't really do anything for the team, just setting up traps that my Sensei tells me to do, and lazying around of course.

"Sure" was all I said to Aiko and went back to drawing.

"I'm sorry for accidentally shouting at you. But the doodles you guys have made on the walls is actually very pretty!" I was very sure that Aiko would have tell the midwives about the doodles, but she complimented it instead.

Aiko said goodbye to us and left our room. As she did, I decided that I should go back to my shelter. I started to pack my things while Gina still doodled on the wall. She looked at me and wondered what I was doing.

"Where are you going?" She asked and put away the crayon she used.

"I'm going back to my real home" I said and her curiously expression changed quickly.

"Can I go with you? I want to see your shelter!" I have mentioned my home before to her, so I understood she wanted to visit my shelter.

"My shelter is pretty far away from the orphanage" I lied.

"And I'm afraid that you might not remember the way back here. I'm sorry, maybe an another time, okey?" I patted her head and gave her a hug.

"Goodbye!" Luckily our room was on the main floor of the building so I could open the window and escape by it.

Funny thing is that my shelter is very close to our fries stand, and fries stand is not too far away from the training field, the ninja academy and as well as orphanage . As I moved away the cloth to enter my entrance, I immediately got tackled down by a wolf cub.

"Sisi! Sisi back!" Said Chīsai and licked my face. I held her close to my chest as I sat up. I felt that she had grown a little. I guessed she took the opportunity to eat as much as possible when I had given her too much food in her bowl so she could survive the days when I was away. I looked at the bowl and saw that it was still some meat left for the wolf cub.

"Missed me little buddy?"

"Missed Sisi!" She wiggled her tail happily that I was back home.

I found Chīsai way back when I lived in the forest. She has been stuck with me since then, and she of course had a way to sneak in to the village to be together with me. I cuddled with Chīsai for a while and realized that I should see if it has become dark outside.

I walked out and looked up at the open area in the mountain which you could see the sky. It had become very dark and you could see the many stars the sky held. I went back in to my shelter and saw Chīsai already asleep. I picked her up and went to my "bed", letting Chīsai sleep on my chest.

"Sisi! Human outside!" Chīsai was pulling my poncho to wake me up. I stood up and stretched before going out and see the person, or child rather.

"Shiori!" I was very shocked to see Gina outside.

"How did you know..?" She pointed somewhere in the distance but realize what ever she was suppose to point at, was gone.

"A girl helped me found you!" When she mentioned a girl, I immediately recognized the sense of the pure golden chakra. I do found it difficult to distinct Aiko from Harumiko's chakra, as their chakra is very similar. But judging by the size of it, it was probably Harumiko who helped her.

"Okey but why are you here?"

"I wanted to see your shelter!" She stomped in to my shelter without asking my permission.

"A puppy!"

"Not puppy! Me cub!" Gina was hugging Chīsai and she was a bit overwhelmed.

"What is their name? They're so cute!"

"Chīsai!" Answered the wolf cub quickly. Gina examinase the room and looked a bit worried.

"The stuff in here looks dirty... is it really safe to stay here?" I nodded and tried to smile.

"It is my home after all.."

We decided to go out afterwards, I took her to the park of course. She played in the different climbing frames than just playing in the sand box. Shehe swing at the swings, she climbed at the climbing frames and she slides the slide. She wasn't alone also which surprised me, as she was alone the other times we went to the park.

After a while, Gina and a couple of other kids walked up to me. She told them that I was a shinobi and everyone looked at me with wonder.

"Do you go out on dangerous missions?"

"Are you in a cool team?"

"Do you use weapons?"

"Do you know any cool jutsus?" I was overwhelmed with questions from the children, I didn't know being a ninja was such a big deal for them.

I answered their questions calmly and pulled out my tantō sword and showed it to the kids, one of them tried to touch it but I withdrew it quickly.

"Sorry but it's really dangerous" I warned and they got impressed by how well I know my weapon.

"Can you show us any jutsu?" They asked again. I hesitated at first but then I decided to let them see my "chidori".

"Wow!"

"So cool!"

"I want to use that jutsu too!" I dispersed my "chidori" and the kids saw how worn out my hand became after using the jutsu.

"Oh no!"

"What happened?"

"She is hurt!" Two of the kids of the group, got a bucket and filled it with water from the nearest well from the park, and let me cool my hand in the cold refreshing water.

I thanked the kids as they became proud of them self for helping a ninja. I realized that Aiko was nearby, she was hiding behind a tree. For some reason, she had a smile on her face. I could sense some kind of sorrow behind it.

"Shiori! I'm hungry.."

"You haven't eaten at the orphanage, have you?" Gina shook her head and I sighed. I knew she didn't like the food from the orphanage but I had hoped she would have started eating there after I left.

"Alright, I buy us some food" I said and she grabbed my hand. We said goodbye to the other children and then went to the fries stand.

We sat on a bench nearby the fries stand, after I had ordered fries for us.

"Are you gonna come back to the orphanage?"

"I do not think so. I'm sorry"

"Okey.." making her sad wasn't easy, but I couldn't answer more honestly.

"But can you visit? So I can meet you again?" She asked hopefully. I didn't like the orphanage, but the glimmer of hope in her eyes made it hard for me to decide what I wanted.

"I'll try to visit you when I have time, okey?"

"Promise!" She reached out her pinkie finger and I chuckled.

"I promise" I said as I grabbed her pinkie finger with my own.

I followed her back to the orphanage after our "dinner". We said goodbye and then I walked back home. As I came closer to home, I saw someone standing in front of my shelter.

I couldn't really mistaken the person with the long Snow White hair, there's not many of them here in our village.

"Yumi, is that you?" She got startled and turned around, as she did, I saw that she was carrying those lunch boxes that I always got, and then I realized.

"So.. you're the one who's given me those boxes?" I asked and she stood there quietly for a moment, but then nodded slowly.

"Thanks I guess. But why making food for me?" I asked and her cheek was slowly turning a bit red.

"I-I really felt bad for you, for not always having the possibility to eat everyday. So I made this lunch boxes for you when you moved in to the shelter and I.. I just kept doing it." It made more sense when she explained.

When we met for the first time when we were kids, I was getting beaten up by other kids because I tried to steal a sandwich. Even with her shy attitude, she was brave enough to stand up to those guys and telling them it wasn't okey with what they were doing.

"Cut it off! It's not cool!" She said and the guys stopped beating me. I assumed they knew her or else they wouldn't have left us. I had a couple of bruises on my cheeks after the beat up. Yumi walked up to me examined my injuries. She was known to be very beautiful and I understood back then why she was, I thought it was too bad she always covered her left face with her long white hair.

She put her hair aside from her face and revealed a cotton eye patch on her left eye, it was soaked for some reason. She took of the cotton eye patch and her left eye was constantly tearing up, she wasn't crying but her left eye couldn't stop the tears from running down her cheeks. She wiped her eye patch on my bruised cheeks, and I could feel how the beating pain was fading, and the bruises itself.

"You have healing tears?!" The Nomi clan was famous because of their ability. The clan used to be targeted by many villages, they wanted to take advantage of the clans ability, which lead them to be chased, and living in an eternal escape of running. But one day they settle down in our village, which didn't know anything about the clan, so they saw them as human being and took care of them, and since then the Nomi clan could live in peace in our village, who also swore to protect the clan.

"It's not kind to steal others food either.." she said and threw away the used patch, and put on a new one she got from her pocket.

"But I'm hungry! A-and I don't have money for it and no one is gonna cook for me anyways!" I ran away from her, thinking that she probably wouldn't have helped me any further than she already had done. I didn't really meet her again after the incident, but right after the day I and Aiko had built my shelter, I started to received random lunch boxes. I should have understand it was her.

"I don't know if.. a simple "thank you" will be enough for all the food you've been providing me but.. thanks a lot" she gave me a smile for my poor attempt of showing her gratitude. I hoped that I could repay her one day.

"Umm.. I've actually already eaten. I could eat a little more but I'm not sure if I be able to eat everything you've given me so.. would you mind eating with me?" It was really inconvenient that I had already eaten fries before she gave me lunch, I was nervous that I might have hurt her feelings, but I was wrong, she even looked happy that I asked her to make me company.

We went inside my shelter and I felt immediately ashamed how bad my home looked like, Yumi probably thought it looked disgusting.

"Yumi!!!" I was shocked that Chīsai knew Yumi.

"Aww, it's good to see you too Chīsai!" They hugged each other while I was left alone for a moment.

"Tiny has food!" Chīsai started to nibble on the box.

"The sudden change of the size of you belly tells me that you shouldn't be eating too much" Yumi also realized that the cub had become more round.

"But food!" She still tried to reach the lunch box.

We ended up putting a little bit of food on Chīsai's bowl, lucky it's one of her favorite, fried chicken. Me and Yumi shared the rest of the fried chicken and rice.

"Oh, you can sit on the sofa! It's more comfortable than the mattress.."

"No, it's okey. I want to sit with you" Yumi sat beside me on the mattress as we ate the lunch she made. Her food was always delicious.

"I've always wondered.. how did you and Aiko become friends?" I became a little bit pissed that Aiko still tells everyone that we were "friends" I only saw her as an annoying ally in the team.

"Well... we met at the park and she protected me from the bullies, even though I could protect myself without her" I lied and tried not to meet Yumi's glance, or else she might have discovered my story as the lie it was.

"And well, since that day, she kept bothering me, even if I have told her multiple times to leave me alone.." I put down my plate of food on my lap and started to think of mine and Aiko's past.

"She always tells me that your friendship is pretty complicated, and it's something you can't really explain with words. But she's always so confident how strong your bond is" I looked at her and then at the "ceiling".

"She's a weird one.. I've never really understood her" I looked down at my plate and saw Chīsai eating the rest of the food on my plate.

"Did you just.."

"Food, yummy!" I looked disappointed at the wolf cub but she looked happy at me, like if nothing had happened. Yumi was laughing at the situation.

"It's not fun! She ate my food.."

"Didn't you say you had already eaten?" She teased and I blushed.

"Yeah but.. it was mine!" Yumi gave me the lunch box and let me have the rest.

"Thank you!" I ate everything while Chīsai was whining.

"You've had your food" I said and glared at the cub while she was pouting.

Yumi stood up and bowed to me.

"Thank you for letting me eat with you!"

"I-I should be the one to thank you? I mean you're the one who had given me food for all these years..." I got flattered how many years it has passed since the first lunch box she gave me. She straightened up and gave me a smile.

"I'll see you, Shiori"


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Aiko

"You finally met Shiori by yourself!" Fumiko was fan-girling over how Yumi had eaten lunch with Shiori in a couple of days ago. I was proud too but Fumiko was a bit over the top.

"We just ate lunch! We didn't really do anything!" Yumi was clearly shy, it was very cute but Fumiko probably terrified her at that moment. While they were chatting, I was dozing off, looking at the grey walls in my room. I was inspired by how Shiori and Gina had drawn doodles on the walls of their room, so I got a sudden urge to paint my room.

"I want to re-paint my room"

"What?" The girls was confused at my sudden statement.

"Want to help me out?" I smiled at them and they looked confused at me, but then returned the smile and nodded.

"But where can we get color?"

"It's in the spare room of our basement" I lead them to the basement and started to seek out for the bucket with color.

"What color do you want?"

"Everyone you can find" they looked confused at me but didn't complain and just helped me out like the kind friends they are. After finding seven bucket with different colors, we went back to my room and started to move all of my furniture, out of my room.

My mother stumbled upon us, moving the last furniture.

"Someone care to explain what is happening?"

"She suddenly got the urge to paint her room" explained Fumiko. My mother just kept looking at us and then left us alone.

"Okey so what's your plan?" Asked Yumi as I examined the walls.

"Want to paint everything white first, then I want to paint it with beautiful patterns with the other colors!"

"Do we get paid for this?"

"Fumiko!" I just laughed at them for being cute dorks.

After we painted the whole room white, we sat outside and waited for the color to dry.

"What kind of patterns do you want it to be?" Asked Fumiko. I thought for a moment but shrugged my shoulder.

"Draw whatever you feel like, I don't have anything specific in mind" my little sister walked up to us as I had explained how I wanted my room to be.

"Are you painting your room?" I explained once again but to my sister and she got excited about it.

"Can I help you out? Please!"

"Of course!" I was about to pat her head but she went directly to the painting brushes on my desk which stood near by.

"Can we start now?" She asked hurriedly and we all laughed.

"Sure. Let's paint the room girls!" We spent hours panting the room, we loved making the detailed patterns on the wall, it became very beautiful! It could have went faster but if Fumiko didn't start a painting fight...

"Hey, what was that for?!" I said to Fumiko who was giggling.

"Come on honey it's not that mu-" I threw so much color on Fumiko's net-shirt so it almost covered the whole thing.

"You..."

"Why can't they behave for once"

"There they go again" we probably spent a good hour to cover each other in color. We went downstairs to take a shower but stumbled upon mom on the way. She looked at us with disappointment, but I could hint a small smile on her lips.

"I knew this was a bad idea" I could hear a small chuckle when she walked passed us. We proceeded to take turns in the shower, and when we came back, we saw Yumi and Harumiko bonding with each other, it was really cute. Both me and Fumiko put clothes on when we got to my drawer, Fumiko got to borrow a oversized t-shirt for the moment so we could keep on fixing the room.

"So you're actually going to paint?" Yumi teased as Harumiko chuckled.

"Yeah of course! As long as EVERYONE is mature!" I felt my chakra surging through my fist.

"Oh yeah, and that a certain SOMEONE stops being a cry baby!" Fumiko had also charged her fist with chakra. We both had an immense chakra control. My clan is known for our unique chakra texture, and how easy it is for us to expand our chakra reserve. Fumiko had her amazing chakra control because she was training to become a medic-nin and it was important to them to have a stable chakra control.

Both Yumi and Harumiko had to pull me and Fumiko away from each other so we wouldn't fight and possibly destroy the whole damn house.

"Please, calm down both of you!"

"I still can't believe they're older than me..."

After we finally made peace, we finished painting my room and sat down and looked at our beautiful creation.

"You're happy with how it turned out?" Asked Harumiko as I laughed quietly and looked at that one corner that you could see clearly where me and Fumiko had our little fight.

"Yeah.. I'm happy, and proud of it!" I pulled everyone in to a group hug.

"Thank you guys.. I'm happy I have you!" I hugged them harder as I could hear them groan in suffocation.

After we moved back all of my furniture back in to my room, we got rewarded with dinner that my mother made!

"So your room isn't a total mess?" My mom teased and I and Fumiko tried not to laugh as we already had started eating.

"You can actually take a look for yourself and judge!" said Yumi and smiled towards my mother. She looked skeptical at first but decided to go and check my room.

It was just silence for a moment, not a single sound except for the sound of silverware clashing in to plates when we ate, and also the sound of Harumiko burping.

My mother came back with no certain expression on her face, she turned her head towards me and said "there's a obvious spot that tells where you and Fumiko fought.."

Everyone burst in to laughter! I just chuckled quirky and hid my face with my hands.

"But it was just a friendly fight! Right, Aiko?" Fumiko patted me on the back and I just gave her a teasing grimace.

"But it ended up really good! I'm proud of you girls!" My mom tousled our hair and sat back down to eat with us.

Fumiko and Yumi had to go home after the late dinner because it had already become pretty dark outside.

"Thank you so much for helping me out today!"

"No problem, it was fun" Fumiko gave me a sly grin.

"Yeah right.." I waved them goodbye and proceeded to prepare myself for bed.

"Aiko!" Harumiko came in to the bathroom while I was brushing my teeth.

"Can I sleep in your room tonight?" I remembered that her birthday was tomorrow, and she always wanted to sleep with me the night before.

We got ready for bed and went to my room to hop in my bed. My little sister loves to use me as a human mattres, so she usually lays on top of me, but it was cozy anyways so I didn't mind.

"Aiko, can we spar tomorrow?"

"Is that what you wish?" Harumiko nodded excitedly and I kissed her on the forehead.

"Yeah, tomorrow..."

I had woken up before my little sister. The smell of pancake that mother made, teased me but I didn't want to wake Harumiko just yet, it was her birthday after all. I played with her hair and sang quietly while waiting for her to wake up. I heard a yawn so I looked down to see my sister rubbing her eyes.

"Happy birthday Harumiko!" I patted her head softly as she gave me a bear hug.

"Momma has made pancakes for you. Let's go down!" I said and we both went downstairs to eat breakfast. My little sister bragged about how much she had trained while we sat down at the kitchen table as our mother gave us our plates that was filled with pancakes with delicious berries on them.

"Aiko promised to spar with me today!" Said Harumiko and mom slammed the kitchen table, she probably got bad memories from last time when me and my little sister had a spar.

"M-mom! It won't be serious like last time! We promise!" I put my arm around my mother's shoulder to calm her down, but I could feel how tense she was.

"Let's just enjoy the pancakes you made!" I proceeded to eat up my breakfast but my mom was quiet the whole time while me and Harumiko talked about how it was going for her in the academy. After we ate our breakfast and put the dishes away, we walked to the door and was about to head out but mother grabbed the collar of our clothes, hindering us from taking any more steps.

"No. I'm not letting you ruining the village again!"

"But mom!"

"I said that we won't mess up!" We both tried flailing to get out of mother's hard grip.

"Mom! I'm responsible! I won't let my sister or the village get ruined. You can trust me!"

"Please mom! It's my birthday.." Harumiko gave mother the "sad puppy look" and my mother of course couldn't resist.

"Alright then... but you have to tell me if something goes wrong! Okey girls?"

"Yes mom!" Mother finally released us from her grasp.

We made our way to the training ground and started stretching before starting the spar.

"I've really gotten stronger you know? It won't be like the last time!"

"I hope it isn't just talk and that you'll prove it through this battle!" I encouraged as we stood in front of each other, ready for a great fight.

Harumiko started of with trying to bind me with her water whip, but I dodged gracefully away from it. As I tried to land from dodging her water whip, I was met with a water kunai she created with her 'water release: water weapons' ability, which I could clearly see was mixed with a lightning nature in it. I understood that her nature transformation had started developing storm release.

I moved out of the way swiftly and landed on the ground steadily. I used 'fire style: flame bullet', attacking her as a flamethrower but she countered it with 'water style: water trumpet' and the training ground was covered with steam. Our clans sensory ability is incredible so the steamy mist wasn't any difficult for us to locate where the other one was. I saw that her chakra made a throwing gesture, thank to her putting lightning nature to her attacks, I could hear the water lightning objective so I moved out of its way. I saw the water electric water shuriken flying past me, but then it suddenly made a sharp turn, making it heading towards me again. It didn't just hurt my side, it also gave an electric shock, after that I realized how close I sensed her chakra. I looked up and saw Harumiko with a water sword. Luckily I didn't get paralyzed by the previous attack so I could dodge the current one with no hinders.

"You're so freaking fast sister! But can you avoid this?!" She once again used her signature jutsu and created several water shurikens that I had to parry with my hidden kunai I usually have on my belt. As I was distracted by the shurikens, I also too late to realize that my little sister was launching at me from above with a water hammer. I hastily used 'lightning style: lightning beast tracking fang' and it hit her water hammer, which shocked her. The weapon disappeared and Harumiko denned to have fainted from the shock.

She had jumped very high up, so trying to catch her would hurt both of us. I felt how fast my heart raced, I didn't know what to do and I couldn't call for help. I was swearing and breathed uncontrollable. I couldn't stand and watch losing another sister. I felt a sudden power flowing through my body, my eyes felt very intense too. In the middle of the panic, I turned myself in to pure chakra, taking the form of a golden mist. I took flight and tried to reach my sister as fast as possible. When I was in reach, I entered her mind, making me have full control of her body as she was also unconscious. It wasn't too far from ground by then, luckily, our direction of falling was leading to some tall trees close to the training ground. As we made it to the trees, we created a dagger like weapon and stabbed the tree to slow down the fall, and we landed safely on the ground. I looked up at the tree which got a huge cut along it.

I felt a bit bad about it, as our village doesn't has too many trees as it should, and mom had always said to us that it was important to take care of the plants that we had in our village.

I realized how exhausted and sat down and exited Harumikos mind, she already leaned on a tree so she didn't fall. I turned back to normal and sat myself down with my little sister. I held her close to me as I calmed down from the fall.

"Hn.. Aiko? Why are we here?" Harumiko woke up and I hugged her so hard that I only could hear mumbles from her.

"Aiko, I can't breath!"

I couldn't say anything correctly as I was still tired and a bit stressed.

"You're.. not hurt?" She shook her head and held my hands gently. Her hands was pretty cold while mine was very hot at the moment.

"I think.. it's enough for now..."

We went back home after we took a rest in woods near the training grounds.

My mother could notice immediately how tired I looked like.

"What happened?"

I lied out of the conversation but mom didn't look satisfied with the answer.

"Alright. Then I guess you're not tired enough to learn a new jutsu?" Both me and my little sister lit up with energy. Mom had never taught us the same jutsu, as well at the same time.

"What are we gonna learn? Me and Harumiko doesn't have the same chakra natures yet, won't the training be difficult?" Mom shook her head and lead us outside, and actually proceeded walking outside the village!

"Mom, what about the village?"

"Don't worry, Atsushi covers it for me" I've seen Atsushi a couple of times in my mother's office, he is a doctor and he always talked about some "experiment". I've been worried about it but mother always reassured that it wasn't a big deal, but I still got bad vibes from that man.

My mother stopped walking and so did I and my sister.

"Why did we sto-" I was interrupted by the sudden teleportation. We had arrived in a beautiful green meadow, and it was filled with different antler animals! There was a giant moose who was lying down, covering the whole side of the meadow, who also had plants and vines growing on its body, and beautiful flowers had grown on top of it horns.

"This place is so beautiful, mommy!" Harumiko ran through the tall grass with a smile. She was so excited to be in another place than the village because my mother is usually strict to not let us go out of the village.

"Mom, where are we? I've never seen something incredible as this place.."

"This is "Himitsu meadow" it's a hidden place that not many people knows because the antler animals protects it so well" the name was very familiar.

"But mom, doesn't that mean..?" A tall shadow appeared behind my little sister, it grabbed her by the waist and lift her up.

"Harumiko!" Strangely enough, my sister wasn't scared, she was laughing.

"Don't tickle me!"

"Finally I see my nieces again! It's been too long Akemi" the shadowy figure became clearer. The woman behind Harumiko had very similar face features as my mom but her hair was different, she had long dark brown hair instead of short blond hair like mom.

"I'm really sorry Tomoko. It's been really stressful in the village recently" my mom excused and approached the two girls.

"Are you our Aunt that our mom talks about?" I felt stupid for forgetting that we have an aunt that my mom have occasionally talked about.

"I feel happy that your mom says something about me!" She teased and let go of Harumiko.

"Where is-" Aunty was about to mention my older sister, but my mom cut her sentence by shaking her head. She changed the subject to the main topic instead.

"So girls. Do you know why you are here?" She asked excitedly and put her hands on our shoulders.

"Mom said we would train here!" Said my sister happily.

"Not only that! You're going to learn how to use "summoning jutsu"!" I remember that my mother had mentioned how she had to use "summoning jutsu" several times during the fourth great ninja war, so she could protect the village from all of the white zetsu's that tried to intrude.

"Are we going to summon these animals? How do we start?!" Harumiko was so happy to be able to train with mother. She has trained with me sometimes but she is mostly self-taught which made her an incredible prodigy.

"First of, you two have to sign a contract to be able summon these certain animals" my mother said and and bit her own thumb and used the summoning technique to summon a deer carrying a big scroll on its back. Mother took the scroll and unrolled it, it contained names of our ancestors and finger their prints which they used blood to write.

"You have to write your name with your won blood as sacrifice" explained our Aunt and poked the scroll with her staff. I bit my finger to make it bleed and went ahead to sign myself. I looked back at Harumiko who was hesitant.

"Is something the matter?" I asked her but she jus stared at the ground, not really answering my question.

"Are you afraid of the blood?" She nodded slowly.

"This will be quick, okey?" I pulled out my kunai but she backed away from me.

"Haru... do you trust me?" I stretched out my free hand but my sister still hesitated.

"This will be over soon" I said and she slowly put her hand in mine. I stung her thumb with the kunai and she quickly signed the scroll and immediately returned to hug me.

"You did great" I reassured and rubbed her back. My mother looked worried at us but I mouthed 'It will be fine'. Aunt Tomoko put back the scroll and the deer left.

I let go of my sister who was okey at the moment.

"Are you ready?" My mom asked and we both nodded.

"Alright. To use the technique, you have to use the hand signs boar, dog, bird, monkey and ram. Then you put your hand on the ground to summon!" My mother explained and it didn't take too long for us to memorize the hand seals.

I let Harumiko try first and she succeededaly summoned a small deer who had started to grow it's horns.

"He is so cute!" She said and hugged the deer gently.

"Aiko, you turn!" I did the hand signs and use the summoning technique and suddenly, I sat at the top of a gigantic full grown moose! But it wasn't as big as the biggest moose who was laying down on the meadow.

"Holy Hagoromo is that impressive!" Said Aunty and clapped her hands.

"I also want to be able to do that!" I heard my sister shout.

"You must have put much chakra in to summon this beast!" I could hear how happy and proud mother was.

"Hrmm.. I don't like to be called beast"

"You can talk?!?!" I've never heard talking animals so it was a bind blowing moment for me.

"Of course I can talk!" The moose shook me off of him so I fell but mother caught me before I could hit the ground.

"I'm sorry for the bad manners. I was so happy to see my daughter perform greatly on her training.

"Prodigy or not, I'm not obeying a child" the moose walked back to where it previous was before I summoned him.

"I forgot to mention, even if you successfully summon an animal, they don't have to obey you" my mother explained. As I felt disappointed. The most thought I was weak and didn't want to work with me.

"Let me try again mom, I won't use too much chakra this time"

"Okey, go ahead" I did the hand signs once again, trying to suppress the amount of chakra to and summoned an adult deer instead. The deer stared right to my eyes for a while, and then bowed.

"I'm honored to work with you, new summoner" the deer was much more kind and gentle.

"Thank you. Do you have a name, deer?"

"My names Mitsuru" I stroked his head gently, feeling his soft fur.

"Thank you Mitsuru for introducing yourself, you can return to your business if you want" The deer nodded and ran towards the other animals.

"I'm gonna summon a bigger animal!" My sister challenged.

"Haha, sure!" I said and scuffed her hair.

"That has to be next time. I'm sorry this was short but we need to get back home" we said our goodbyes to our Aunt and got reversed summon by the doctor Atsushi. We were my mother's office.

"I hope I didn't summon you too early" said the tall, grey haired man to my mother. I've never really paid attention to the doctor, but I realized at that moment how disturbing he looked. He had bony fingers and was very pale, had also a very visible jaw with an ugly stubbed bear that was nearly there. He had his hair in a bun but it was still in a messy way.

"No, we just finished our business" my mother went back to her desk to do paper works.

"I still think you shouldn't have wasted so much time" said the doctor and walked out of the office, as he did, my little sister stuck out her tongue at him.

"Don't do that, it's rude to do something like that to someone you don't really know" I lectured her but she only responded with a 'hm'

"I'll be heading home, I'm very exhausted and just want to sleep" I excused myself and walked back home, not really caring if my sister was following me or not.

When I came back home, I went immediately went to my room and changed my clothes so I could lay down in my bed. It didn't take too long in to I fell a slumber.

"Aiko.. are you there?" I heard a very familiar voice, which I haven't heard for years.

I opened my eyes and saw Kamiko standing in front of me with a smile on her face.

"K-Kamiko..? H-how?!" I was lost in words. I started to look around and realized we were in a very hazy place who's had light green tones everywhere I saw.

"This is.. a kind of a dream? It's not really a dream as we both have full control of what we are doing. This is our clans way to contact our descendants" she explained, she was still as awkward when she tries to explain things for me.

I started to cry because of the all the emotions that I have stored throughout the many years without my big sister.

"I've missed you so much.." my sister walked closer and gave me a bear hug.

"I've missed you too, Aiko.." we stood like that for a good while, feeling each other's presence.

"What is this weird dream? How can you even contact me like this?" I was very confused of the current situation.

"Remember.. before I died, the essence of my chakra was still left, and you absorbed it" I nodded, feeling even more emotional when I was reminded of her death.

"When someone from our clan, absorbs the chakra essence of another member, a part of that certain member stays with the absorber in a spiritual way, they also grow stronger as a human being when they do so" I got flash back from that day, when my big sisters dead body laid in front of me. She was bleeding, especially in the stomach area, she had been stabbed, she was killed by me.

"I'm sorry I had to make you go through that. It was very selfish of me" it was like she had read my mind.

"No! You had to do what you had to do.."

"I should have done it differently" she sighed and let go of the embrace. I didn't really understand her response, I couldn't see any better way she could have done it.

"But I'm proud of you Aiko" she said suddenly and put her hand on my shoulder.

"W-why? I'm nothing like you! I'm not as skilled as you are, I'm not confident as you, I'm not cool as you are, I can't even cook like you did!" My sister started to laugh at my statements.

"You're just as powerful as me, and you will become even stronger! I'm proud that you're not like me. I want you to be Aiko, my little sister" she kissed my forehead and looked at me with wander in her eyes. It felt weird and funny because I usually look up to her, but now it was different, we both looked at each other with wander which only we could see with one another.

"Take care of our baby sister, okey?" I nodded as she stepped back a little.

"We will see each other soon I promise!" She said and waved goodbye. I wasn't ready to leave her again so I tried to move closer to her but as I did, I woke up in the real world.

I felt the tears on m cheek that had become cold, I turned around and looked down on my pillow which you could clearly see the tear stains.

I wiped away my tears and looked out the window, wondering about that weird dream.

My sister surprisingly walked in to my room without knocking, I didn't really mind though. She laid down beside and hugged me.

"You missed the cake last night" I faced palmed myself as I remembered that I went to bed pretty early.

"I'm sorry, but at least you got more cake for yourself?" She laughed and nodded.

"... oh god no, did I?" I realized that I had forgotten to celebrate Shiori, as she shared the same birthday as my little sister.

"I'm the worst sister, and friend that I can possibly be.."

"Are you worried about Shiori?" She asked and I said yeah.

"Well it's okey! I gave her ten cups of instant noodles and said it was from both of us. She seemed to be satisfied" I sighed in relief and put my hand on my forehead.

"So you're not the worst friend or sister!" She said and gave me a kiss on the cheek.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Shiori

Chīsai demanded to go out so I took a stroll around the village with her. She becomes more quiet when we leave our home, so there's not many people who knows that I have a talking wolf cub, it was only three people who knew and it was Yumi, Talia and Harumiko.

As I walked past the training grounds, I could the hear the new chūnin ninjas yelling at me, screaming foul names as usual. Chīsai started to bark at them but I picked her up while I was walking and gently covered her snout so she stopped barking.

I also did a big mistake to walk past the orphanage.

"Well looks who's back!" Said a boy from the orphanage as two more guys surrounded me and Chīsai.

"You left us for the second time, you should know that you're not welcomed here!" I held the wolf cub closer as she started to bark again. I hushed at Chīsai but she wouldn't stop.

"Oh look! Shiori actually got a friend. It would be sad if something would happen to the little dog!" One of the guys tried to take the cub away from me but I kicked them on the chest so he couched as he backed away.

"Oh. You think You can take us all? Why don't we try and see what happens?" All three of the boys tried to launch at me at the same time but I jumped so they crashed in to each other instead. I hid Chīsai under my poncho so she tucked close to my shirt.

"Fire style: flame whirlwind!"as I got covered by a spiraling flame and shot the fire straight down on the boys. I fled as they were trying to recover by the fire, but it didn't take too long until I stumbled upon a even bigger guy who was after me too.

The bigger guy grabbed the collar of my shirt/poncho and lifted me up so my feet didn't touch the ground.

"You shouldn't have come back.." he said with a deep voice that made Chīsai tremble underneath my poncho.

He was about to punch me and I closed my eyes, but he stopped just an inch from my face.

I opened my eyes as he retreated his fist. Both Talia and Etsuko stood behind the guy, the had probably stopped him from beating me up.

"We all agreed. No more grudges on her" said Etsuko and he dropped me so I hit the ground.

"You know we can't forgive her!" The three other guys that got burned walked up to us.

"Once a traitor, always a traitor!"

"Stop being so childish! She might have left us but she hasn't really hurt any of us, right?" Said Talia with annoyance in her voice.

"We were burn-"

"It was self defense" I interrupted and got a hard punch from the biggest guy.

"You and your wimpy excuses.." he was close to kick my head while I was on the ground but Talia drag the big guy away from me.

"It's enough.." Etsuko helped stand up while the guys who hunted me, walked away.

"It surprises me you have the guts to walk by here" said Talia and watched as the bullies disappeared from sight when they turned to a corner.

"Chīsai seemed to want to walk this path this time"I let go of the wolf cub and let her walk freely. The cub barked happily as she saw I was pretty okey.

"Let me heal you" Etsuko laid her hand on my cheek and used some kind of healing technique. I didn't really recognize the jutsu, as it wasn't the classical "healing palm technique" or any sort of it.

"It looks fine now!" She said happily and gave me a hug.

"You should be careful next time" warned Talia and I nodded.

"Don't be so rough on her. She has the right to visit us!"

"Not that I really want to.." I said in a very low tone so they didn't hear it.

It ended up that Etsuko drag me back to the building where I was hated. I could feel how the eyes was following my back, like if I were some kind of victim. After walking through the glares of death, we entered Talia's room and relaxaed a bit, but it didn't take too long.

"Dammit! Where's my pills?!"

"Have you already taken all of them?!" Etsuko is always worried about people, which made me feel bad for her because the majority of the older kids took drugs.

I sat on Talia's bed as they started to argue like a married couple, and they were only 13 years old.

"I have to go back to get more"

"You know I don't like that place.."

"I could use some more weed though" I said. There's a certain abandoned building that was located in the dangerous part of the village.

"You don't even have to take any. You can just hang out with the others?"

"They will try to force me, believe me" Etsuko role her eyes and crossed her arms in annoyance.

"They'll mess with me if they're trying to do something. Okey?" Said Talia and held Etsuko close. I found it funny that Talia was the dominant in the friendship as she was a bit shorter than Etsuko.

Etsuko finally decided to follow us so I teleported back home first to leave Chīsai, and then teleported us to the abandoned house.

As we opened the door and entered the building, we could feel how heavy the air had become.

"Kenshin! I know you're here so give me the pills!" Talia started to run around the house to find the dealer.

"Why does she have to hurt herself like this.."

"The drugs we use is not that dangerous as you think" I argued but she snapped at me immediately.

"Of course it's dangerous! You just can't realize it because you're high most of the times!" She realized how loud she was so she became ashamed quickly.

"I'm sorry, I just care about you guys.." she said as she started to walk towards the way where Talia went. We ended up finding her, already swallowing one of the pills she newly bought.

"Oh well isn't Shiori herself? Long time no see pal!" I shook hand with Kenshin shook hands as he gave me a nice deal for some joints. I got a good price from him as he still considered me as a "friend".

"Lucky that I still have some ryō left from my recent mission" I gave him some of my money and I received a small case that contained the joints.

"Glad to make business with you!" He kept walking to other people who waited for him.

We sneaked to one of the many rooms in the house that were used to relax and chill.

I opened the case and took a joint to light it up.

"Can I have one?" I was surprised how Talia wanted weed so soon after swallowing the ecstasy pills.

"You just got your favorites and now you want from me?"

"You think I can't handle it?" She was getting pissed. I knew it was better to just give her the joint. I already knew the consequences of making Talia mad, it never ended up good.

She lit up her blunt and took a puff. She became relaxed and just sunk lower on the sofa which all three of us were sitting. She leaned her head on Etsukos arm but she put her arm around Talia instead.

Talia was still young, I knew she couldn't handle too much, She was lucky that she was still conscious. My chakra and kekkei genkai always generated me and kept my chakra clean, so the high from drugs never affected me for too long, it was a shame.

As we sat there and relaxed, a soft knock could be heard at the other side of the door.

"It's occupied-" the person walk in anyways and the person was someone I least expected to enter.

Talia looked up to see the white haired girl at the door.

"Hey.. isn't that?" Talia tried to focus her eyes on the trembling Yumi.

"I-I... hoped that Ch-Chīsai was lying.." She stormed out of the room and realized how bad I was at sensing others chakra while being high, I could barely sense when Yumi exits the building.

"Crap..." I stood up but felt dizzy because I was hasty.

"You should calm down a bit before going" Etsuko pulled me down to the sofa and I sunk down in regret.

I teleported home quickly as fast as I got sober. Yumi was sitting near my shelter as I arrived.

"Y-you've been waiting for me? It's late afternoon and-"

"Let's just go in and eat.." we walked in to my shelter without looking at each other.

We sat opposite of each other, in an awkward silence and ate the meal she had made for us both.

"I'm sorry that you had to see me like that earlier" I said when I finished eating. She was quite, she only stared at me for a moment.

"How did you know I was there anyways?" I asked and Yumi pointed at Chīsai.

"I asked her where you were when I wanted to deliver you your lunch" more awkward silence after she explained. It was hard figuring out what was going through her head.

"Why do something like that to yourself?" She asked but I shrugged my shoulders.

"It's a hobby? No one cares what I do anyways"

"But I do" she confessed and I didn't know how to reply to it. As I had mentioned before, I've never thought about my action because no one has been there to tell me other wise.

"Thank you" I couldn't come up with something else but those words, but I did say the truth, I was thankful that she cared. I gave her a hug and she rested her head against my chest.

"I will be fine. I promise"

We spent the rest of time, cuddling before she had to go back home. Chīsai also woke up after she left

"human mad?" I understood that she was talking about Yumi.

"Doesn't seem like it" I reassured and patted Chīsai's head.

"Hey, Shiori! You have any spare parts of junk you don't use-" it was Aki who barged in. He immediately saw how exhausted I was, which made him lose his track on words.

"Are.. you okey?" He asked and sat beside me on the ground.

"I guess? Just feel like I've fucked up" I said but he raised his eyebrow.

"Yumi found out about the abandoned house, and that I visit there at times" I explained as he rubbed my back.

"Ah so she got upset?" I nodded and made a loudly sighed.

"You know, Yumi looks up to you. I think that's why she's acting like she does" it was my turn to raise my eyebrow. The thought of someone actually looking up to me was weird, I was far for being perfect to be looked up to.

"It might sound ridiculous to you but she has an interesting reason. If you want to hear me out of course" I frowned in confusing but I agreed to listen to him.

"Yumi told us about how you protected her that time when you were kids" I got a flashback when the same bullies that I stole a sandwich from, had started to bully Yumi too. I remember them talking about them being tired of being pushed around. Yumi tried to explain to them that wasn't the case and that they had misunderstood her, but they didn't listen to her.

I knew that I didn't stand a chance against them, but for some reason, I didn't give a chance to think about the consequences of standing in they're way, I just did it anyways. I ended beaten up of course.

"She saw you as a brave person that day, it also gave her more reason to give you food" I blushed at thought of her, thinking that I was some kind of hero in her eyes.

"Not only that. She admires your endurance! Yumi thinks it's amazing how you keep up with everything, the bullies and these stupid rumors. I also think it's cool how you can keep standing despite all this trash things you get thrown at you" I really didn't. It felt like suffering staying in this village when the majority of the villagers hated me. But I couldn't flee then, I was still too weak.

"I'm sure she will be normal soon, so don't think too much about it okey?" Aki gave me a pat on the back and then stood up.

"So may I see if you have any spare parts?" He said excitedly and I smile, giving him the permission to pry in to my box which pretty much contain things that no one else use.

"Finally! I've been looking for this gear!" He had picked four gears and a tiny box of screws.

"I'll see you, Shiori!" Aki left my home so I finally could go to sleep.

Atsushi woke me up, he wasn't really happy to see me.

"You have wasted our time, Subject S. Where were you yesterday?" I sat up on my bed and tried to focus.

"Taking a rest? I didn't have any mission so.."

"Resting somewhere else then I guess?" I shouldn't have tried to lie to him, he is very smart, he is a scientist after all.

"Alright, Alright. So what's on the schedule?" I asked as he pulled out a small write-block from his pocket. He read it through quickly.

"I have come up with a new medicine that probably will help you control the amount of chakra you use to form your nature transformed kekkei genkai. Plasma release" I hated my secondary kekkei genkai, it was the reason why I accidentally killed people.

"Let's teleport to my laboratory" sometimes I wondered if the scientist was also lazy sometimes.

"Why don't we just wa-"

"We've already wasted too much time" he said and I had no other choice than obeying him.

I teleported us to the laboratory and we headed straight to the room that contains most of the weird medicine he created.

Atsushi walked to one of the many tables and grabbed a small bottle with a yellow colored liquid inside it. He walked back to me and gave me the bottle.

"Drink it"

"What's the side effect?"

"Doesn't matter" I sighed and drank the medicine. I didn't feel anything unusual at that moment.

"Let go to the testing room" the testing room was the only place where I could use my power without hurting anyone.

The doctor was watching me outside trough a window. He could speak through a mike so I could hear him from the speakers inside the testing room.

"Use your techniques to hit the dummy, the goal is to damage it without completely obliterate the whole room.." it echoed in the room.

I tried to use my "usual" jutsu, "plasma style: plasma cannon" but I couldn't form anything with my chakra, I even tried to do the hand seals for the jutsu but nothing happened.

"Really? Are you too weak now to do anything at all? You're either uncontrollably strong, or useless. How pathetic" he scolded as I tried over and over again. Soon enough, I tried to use regular fire and lightning release separately. Not even that worked.

"I think you made the medicine too stro-"

"You're just too weak. That's all" he scolded and unlocked the door for me. As I exited the testing room, he grabbed my arm and took me to my cell.

"Why Am I suppose to be here?!" I yelled as I tried to escape but the laser bars turned up.

"You will be here for a while until I come up with the next medicine" he said and disappeared back to the Medicine room as I called it.

I spent a couple of hours in the cell without a word from Doctor Atsushi. After a while, I could sense the golden chakra, and a sound of someone humming. It was Harumiko. She usually do voluntary work around the village, and for some reason, she was the only one who did thework here in the laboratory.

"Ah good time Harumiko! Could you check if Subject S has any mission the upcoming days?"

"Alright" I felt her chakra slowly disappearing from the area.

She came back after a while, telling Doctor Atsushi that I didn't have mission about four days. I thought I probably had to stay for at least two days

I felt Harumiko's presence coming closer to me, so I looked up to see her having a small plastic bag with candies in it. Her hands was small enough to go through the bars without being hurt.

She put the candy bag in my cell and told me to be quite about it. I happily took the bag and ate every single candy pieces. I have the empty plastic bag so there was no evidence that I had eaten. She went back afterwards to do the real work.

More of the hours passed and I was about to fall asleep, but the sound of the laser bars disperse disturbed me.

The doctor walked in to the cell with some kind of pills in his hand, and a glass of water in the other hand.

"These will prepare you for tomorrow's tests" he explained and I took the new medicine. The pills was extremely strong! It felt like a heavy weight covered my whole body, I also felt sick, like if I was about to throw up.

I could barely do anything at all. I could only lay on the ground suffering.

"Great. Hopefully tomorrow, your chakra will be balanced" he left me in once again and I had to wait for tomorrow. I couldn't sleep as I had a constant pain in my chest which made it hard to breath.

He dragged me directly to the test room the morning after. Didn't get breakfast or anything. Luckily, the test was a success. I was able to use my kekkei genkai without obliterate the whole room. I tried to run away after the doors unlocked but Doctor Atsushi grabbed my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said with a stern.

"I'm feeling sick! I'm getting out of here!" I tried to shake him off but he was too strong for me.

"Before leaving. You have to take these pills every night from now on" he tried to hand me the glass jar of pills but I smacked it so it hit the floor and broke in to pieces. The doctors face turned expressionless, like a rock.

He grabbed me by the collar of my clothes and started to repeatedly punch, and kicking my body, he then grabbed my head and pushed my face to the ground where the glass shards where so the right side of my face got hit and started to bleed.

"I know you hate this place, but if you don't do as I say then you will be here longer than necessary and I don't really want to keep you here either" he said while holding me down.

"Didn't you hear me?! I feel shit when I take those medicines!"

"I don't care! As long as is works, then nothing else matters!" He pushed my head harder in to the shards.

"But!"

"Don't you want to help this village? Don't you want to protect her?" I hated how he used Aiko as a threat.

"Alright.." I finally gave up so he let me go. He didn't treat the injuries that he caused, he only gave me a new jar with the pills.

I tried to hide my face when I walked back to my shelter. Chīsai saw my bleeding face and got really worried, the only thing I could do was trying to get out all of the shard pieces that was still stuck. After I pulled out all of the glass shards, I took a "clean" towel cloth and tried to wipe away the blood. While cleaning my face, I heard someone entering my home.

"Hi Shiori. Just wanted to ask if- holy crap you look hideous" it was Hisashi who trespassed.

"Thanks a lot..." I said as I threw away the towel. He asked me what happened and I told him a lie.

"The trainings went really bad with Doctor Atsushi"

"Yeah, absolutely" he said ironically. He was aware that something was fishy with the doctor but he knew he couldn't really get any evidence so he was passive about it.

"Anyways. I wanted to ask you if you rather want Makoto Sensei to privately train you instead of that doctor" I laughed at his attempt to help me.

"Yamakage won't allow it, believe me"

"It's worth a try" he argued but I sighed.

"Even if she agreed to, then I wouldn't allow it!" Hisashi looked at me like if I was stupid, which I was.

"Why not? You hate the doctor?"

"Yeah, but I rather accidentally hurt the damn doctor than our Sensei!" I said and Hisashi didn't really know how to answer so he just shrugged his shoulder.

"Oh well. I'm still going to try so you can change your training" he left before I could say something otherwise.

When the night grew closer, I had to take the pills again and endure the suffering. Chīsai recognized really quick that I felt bad.

"Sisi! Sisi needs help!"

"I'll be fine.. I just need some fresh air, I'll be back soon" I could barely move but I did my best to leave the shelter so the wolf cub didn't have to see how sick I was.

I started to walk around the empty streets but it didn't take too long until I recognized a pure golden chakra running around town. I felt how her chakra grew closer to me, she probably already knew something wasn't right with me. I tried to run but it was pretty much a desperate jog. Her chakra was always close by so I exited the village for once. I never left because I knew the Yamakage would realize it and then find me immediately, but I didn't care that time.

Even if I was outside the village, I could still feel her chakra so she was still chasing me. I started to run towards the woods and then I felt her chakra slowly disappear. I was finally alone in the forest, or at least that what just what I thought.

After strolling around, trying to focused on other things than the pain and effects from the pills, I tall man with a mask on his face and a giant axe behind his back, appeared. I recognized him from when we had a trip to our neighbor village for the Chūnin exam. I also remember him attacking them.

"Finally I meet you in person. Shiori" He walked closer but I stepped back.

"W-what do you want from me..?!" I backed away more but tripped over my own foot and fell to the ground.

"I want to give you an offer!" He said with some kind of sarcastic and happy tone.

"I've been watching you Shiori. I know what you want and I can give it to you. Join me and I will give you the strength you want, so you can fulfill your promise" I was feeling very scared. I couldn't figure out how he could possibly know a certain promise I try to keep. The promise was made long ago.

"How can I even trust you?" I asked and the mysterious man laughed.

"Of course you can trust me! I mean, how do you think I know you so well? I can do all sort of things" he mocked, sounding like some kind of bad villain.

"There's no way that I'm going with you. You can go to hell you creepy reaper!" I retorted and tried to stand up. He laughed even more and walked up to me so we stood face to face, even though I was a lot shorter than him.

"Maybe not now, but one day you will. And I will be here, waiting" he disappeared in a instant, without a trace left from him.

I was very tired after the small meeting with the man that could possibly be the damn reaper. The effect of the medicine and the adrenaline from the panic took a toll on my energy.

Even after being completely exhausted, I could make my way back to the village. I did however faint at the entrance.

I was in my shelter when I woke up. Aiko and Yumi was also there with me. Yumi hugged me immediately and I saw the lunch box beside her.

"I'm so happy that your okey!" I was mentally torn, could be careless about everything.

"I'm sorry but I'm not really hungry right now" I had to be honest, faking things wouldn't be fair to her.

"Yumi, could you go outside for a moment?" Yumi looked worriedly at Aiko but she did as she said anyways.

"Where were you last night?" She asked quickly as Yumi left. I told her that it was none of her business but Aiko was stubborn.

"And those new scars you have on your right side of your face? How did you get those? Did someone hurt you?" I got so many question that I didn't want to deal with. When she mentioned my scars, I put my hand on the cheek where I got hurt and felt that it was patched up by a soft material. I just told her it was none of her business. It made her even more upset. She got that characteristic from her mother, the Yamakage. The kage was very overprotect over her daughters. It has messed up Aiko's mind a bit, I could see that in her.

"We care about you Shiori! Of course it matters! And why were your chakra level so low? You were at the verge of dying!" Her sensory skill was off the charts, its ridiculous. I just said I didn't know and it wasn't really her business and it made her pissed, but she knew she wouldn't get any information out of me so she gave up.

"Shiori. Please take care of yourself because I'm not the only one who cares about you"


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Aiko

My mother actually had a day off of her work, as all off her secretaries and workers are back in the village to help her out.

"Mom we want to spar with you!"

"Yeah you finally have to time to see how strong we are!" Me and my little sister were literally jumping up and down on our moms bed so she would get up and fight us.

"What have I done to deserve this..?" She said while looking up at the ceiling.

"Please mom! It was long ago since we fought!" I was pulling her arm but she wouldn't move.

"This is the only day I can rest girls.." she argued but me and Harumiko wasn't giving up that easy.

"But we don't have to spar the whole day!"

"We can make breakfast and dinner for you!"

"We can do some house shores too so you don't have to worry about it!" We were desperate to show of what we were capable of. I think we both wanted a some kind of approval from our mom.

"I'll fight you IF you two do all of the offerings you mentioned right now" she said and me and my sister chanted "yes" together as we finally convinced her.

We made her breakfast when she finally moved out of the bed and enjoyed the delicious waffles that Harumiko made.

"So where are we gonna fight? Will the training grounds be enough?" I asked as I knew that mom was ridiculously strong.

"No. We will fight at the arena!" We stopped for minute when mom mentioned the arena, which is in the middle of the village. We only used the arena for important fighting events like the ninja rank exams.

Harumiko got excited becasue she had never fought in that place before.

After we ate and changed to suitable clothes for fighting, we went straight to the arena, and some of the other adult saw us and either got excited, worried or impressed.

Me and my sister stood at the other side of the battle field and prepared to have an awesome fight.

"Girls. It's not often we can do things like this. So please, don't hold back!" Our mom encouraged and she started to count to three. As she counted to one, me and my sister were fast to combine our powers by letting Harumiko quickly trapping our mother in her water whip and sending sending electricity through it. I powered up the electricity by giving Harumiko a stronger lightning chakra.

Our mother didn't seemed faced by our attack. She countered our attack by breathing fire around it and vaporizing the water whip that held her still.

We dashed to our mom, trying to land any hits on her but it was like she knew all of our moves because she could block or dodge our hits without any difficulties.

We repeatedly hit her with all we got but it had to go to an end as my mother used "Fire Style: Dragons Breath". She breathed out fire from both her mouth and nose and the heat hit me but Harumiko protected herself by engulfing her with water. Because I was hit by the fire, I had to roll around on the ground to put it out, as I did, mom started to do the hand signs for the "Water Dragon Bullet" jutsu. It contained a bunch of hand seal but my mom was very fast and didn't need to use all of the hand seals to use that jutsu. Knowing all that, I thought I was screwed for sure because I still had to put out the fire from my body.

Mother was about to make the last hand seal but Harumiko kicked her hands so she couldn't finish.

While Harumiko distracted our mother, I could put out the fire and head in to battle again. Before I could even land a hit on her, she smashed the ground, causing me and my sister to back of. As we did, she used the "fist rock technique" on both of her hands. My mother only used that jutsu when something was serious, which mean that she wouldn't hold back on us any longer.

I tried to disable the "rock fists" by using my "chidori" but the rocks on my mother's hands were too strong for it! It only showed that my mom was so powerful that not even Lightning release jutsus doesn't always work on her earth release, and that is suppose to be weak against lightning.

Harumiko tried to use her water release to get rid of the "rock fist" but that didn't work either.

"That's a good strategy girls, but it won't be that easy!" Now it was mother's turn to make her moves. She charged at us with full power, trying to land a punch at us but luckily, we were also quick so we could dodge her. But as fast as mother had missed an attack, she would be right back up at making a new one. We never had time to attack, only dodge.

"Aiko. Do you remember the new jutsu I was talking about before waking mom? Can we combine it with your?" Said Harumiko while we tried to not get punched in the face by a literall rock fist.

I understood what she was trying to hint. Mother was targeting me next so I took that opportunity to stand in front of a wall. So when my mother tried to punch me, she punched the wall instead and got stuck. She probably left a hole in it

"Water style: water trumpet!"

"Fire style: fire ball jutsu!" Me and my sister attacked her at once while mother was busy with the wall. The clash between mine and my sisters jutsu caused a thick steam around the arena.

Me and Harumiko celebrated a bit too early, but we stopped when we heard someone clap behind our back. We turned around and saw a tall silhouette. When the steam cleared out, we saw our mom stand in front of us, perfectly fine.

"That was really good girls!" It makes me happy you're capable to do so much already" she looked so happy. It was more weird that she didn't looked harmed at all after the fight.

"Mom.. you don't look hurt at all?" Asked Harumiko and mom realized why my sister asked such a question. My mother pointed back at where the clash was, and there was mother, collapsed on the ground. The body on the ground then disappeared, making us realize it was a shadow clone. I also started to think that I didn't knew she could use that jutsu, I've never seen her use it before either.

"How boring! We wanted to fight YOU mom!" Said Harumiko in a sad tone.

"Don't worry. The clone is equally strong as me. So you didn't fight some kind of bad version of me" our mother explained and followed us out.

"Oh well. I'm gonna rest at home! Feel free to do whatever you want, I don't recall you having a mission yet so be free!" She said and disappeared.

"That sucks! I really wanted to fight mommy for real.." my sister was really disappointed. Luckily I came up with a good idea to cheer her up!

"I can get you some ice cream!"

"But Aiko. You're not suppose to go there. You know mom won't be happy" Harumiko argued. I remembered that I was banned from the ice cream stand because of my huge obsession of it.

"Don't worry, we are ninjas! We sneak to the got damn place!" We ended up sneaking through the village just so we could get to the ice cream stand. We approached the stand and the workers noticed us immediately.

"Aiko! No! You're not suppose to be here! You know what happens if your mom figures out that you've visited this place!" The workers panicked and was almost about the close the stand.

"Just this times guys! My little sisters is a little blue and we just want a little ice cream!" I begged and the workers looked at my sister who had her famous puppy eyes look on her. The ice cream workers was struggling to have a straight face and finally gave in.

We bought our ice cream and my sister was in a better mood. We turned around to leave but we crashed right in to our mom who looked at us. Her face was expressionless. She slowly walked up to us and grabbed us by our ear and dragged us.

"Well this is the last time I'll spar with you girls!" Our mom said while dragging us home.

"Mom it hurts!"

"WHY DO WE HAVE THIS STUPID RULE. I CAN BEHAVE" I yelled and she pulled my ear.

"Ouch!"

"Well both of you are grounded the whole day!"

"FUCKING DAMMIT" I screamed. Thinking about it in afterhand I hoped nobody heard me.

I was stuck at home, not doing too much but drawing and looking at old stuff on my desk. I picked up a small bird skull, it was one of many skulls I collected when I was outside the village at night.

"I miss you Kamiko..."

"Aiko! Mom wants you to go to her office!" I was still asleep but Harumiko's jump in my bed made me annoyed and had to go up. I ate the breakfast my sister made and walked to the office.

When I entered the building, I asked the staff where my mom was and they said she was at the meeting room so I went there. When I entered the room, I saw mother sitting with two other people. One of them was an adult with white hair he had in a bun. He had an unusual style of clothes, as well as the guy who was actually a boy in my age. His hair was brown and it looked like he had just gotten out of bed, all messy. He wore what I would consider a normal warm grey shirt and his pants looked like the same design as the olds man red pants, except that they were black. They both had sandals with socks under their sandals. My heart cringed at the feeling of socks and sandals. I looked up at the boys faced and studied it. It looked like he was in a bad mood, his eyes filled with annoyance gazed at the older man. The man himself was probably younger then he looked, but probably the constant frown on his face had made wrinkles. His eyes was narrowed and looked suspiciously over the room, as if he didn't trust it.

Looking over to my mom asking for an explanation why she called me here.

"This is my daughter, she is the successor of our village. Aiko would you be kind and introduce yourself?" She faced me with a smile and kind eyes encouraging me.

I faced the strangers and wondered why they were there.

"I'm Aiko Shimizu. I'm a Chūnin and princess of the Hidden Mountain Village" I politely said. I didn't know who those people were but if my mom was introducing me to them they had to be importan.

"She sounds boring, I shouldn't be here in the first place." The boy said. Irritation flood over me but I held my posture. Hope I didn't have to deal with him more than necessary.

Just seconds after his assumption the old man besides him punched him in the head.

"You unncivilized brat, show some respect." Even his voice dropped with irritation. I would not like to spend time with any of the two people before me.

My mom cleared her throat before she continued.

"Aiko, this is Iwao." She reached out her hand in front of the older man. She then proceeded to the young boy.

"And this is Katsou." The boy was clearly not happy in the situation. Well neither am I but he could at least try to hide it.

"There is a reason for our gathering today. It has been decided, by me and others that it would be if the most importance to keep her safe." She walked around her desk and sat down in her office chair. I had never come to terms why she still used it. It looked old and worn out and I was certain it wasn't comfortable sitting on.

"Therefor, it was decided that Katsou is exemplary as a bodyguard for Aiko." She looked happy with her decision but I was not happy with the end result. I would be stuck with another person judging me. And even more importantly he would have his eyes on me, focusing on every move I made. The thought made me shiver and a scary feeling crept up my spine. Katsou wasn't taking the news to badly, he had probably already been informed about it. Scanning his body posture I could tell he was weaker then me.

"Mother, with all due respect I don't think he is suitable to be my body guard." I stated. I could at least try to get out of this. I could hear him protest but my mind was focused on my mom.

"Why would you think that Aiko." She asked calmly. I didn't want to anger her, but I didn't want a body guard either.

"He is obviously weaker then I am." I said. My voice was calm, I knew I was right.

"Who is weaker than who!" Katsuo screamed. I sighed.

"You." I said and turned to him.

"You are weaker than me." I could feel my moms glare on my skin but I couldn't help it. The boy in front of me was so, so... irritating. I didn't behave as the successor right now. I was a just an irritated Aiko.

"Wanna fight!?!" He yelled and stepped forward. He would have continued if it wasn't for Iwao who pulled his collar. He then turned to mom.

"I think a fight would put this brat in place. He hasn't done anything than screaming at people since he arrived." My mom looked amused at this and proceded to nod.

"Yes, I think Aiko could use a fight to steam out some of that temper she got." I suddenly got the feeling of guilt and wanted to look at the floor, but not in front of Katsuo.

Later on I found myself in front of Katsuo. He hasn't even taking any fighting stance. It was irritating. The signal of our fight sent me running towards him. Before he had the time to take any protecting stance to block my attack, which he would've had the time to do if he had started in a fighting stance. I turned around and did a round house kick which landed right on his ribs. They didn't crunch into broken splitter which meant he had a strong body, but he wasn't cut out for fighting. I hastily landed on my feet ready for any sort of attack. He had doubled over trying to catch his breathe.

He was an idiot.

I took the chance to place my hands above his head and kick my knee in his face. Blood was probably flowing now and I stood up. I could hear how he bit his lip trying to drive his whimper down his throat. I had won. There was no way mom would let him be my personal guard after seeing the fight. I had to interrupt my thoughts when a fist was risking to collide with my face. A hastily tilted my head to avoid the attack. Katsuo had one of his hands holding his nose and the other one was the one who tried to punch me. But what caught my eyes was that he was smiling. It got me confused and before I knew it, he tried to punch me again. The other time I caught his fist in my bare hand. I looked one last time at him before I punched him with my other hand. It hit him on the cheekbone and he fell backwards. I was still holding his hand but let it go and whacked as he fell to the ground.

"Hey, you're fun." His words caught me off guard more than a sneak attack would.

"What?" I asked, nothing better coming to my mind at the moment. I looked at him like he had two heads but he just continued smiling.

"At first I thought you were like all the others, just caring about their status and all that boring stuff." I didn't understand where he was getting with it. Katsuo tried to sit up but hissed as his ribs probably hurt.

"But your cool. You have attitude." He continued. I could feel my face heating up as I stared at the strange boy.

"T-thank you" I answered uncertain. I had to go, I couldn't handle it.

"Excuse me." I said and turned around. In fast steps I walked away. I could imagine my red cheeks out of embarrassment. I had acted so childish, that was so out of my character. My hand flew up to my mouth as if I were trying to hide myself. I wasn't some sort of artistic perfection in front of him. He saw me as Aiko. I shook that thought out of my head. He was just weird. Hurrying away my thoughts were trying to find a solution to why he was so weird and more importantly. Why I couldn't act good enough in front of him.

Someone grabbed my arm and I turned around to see it was my mother.

"Why did you just walk away like that?" She asked worriedly and I shook off her hand.

"I don't like him! He is weird, unnecessarily cocky. Why him as a bodyguard when he is so weak?! We could have just hired Shiori to be my guard, she has saved me multiple times and you know it mom!" I was furious, but this wasn't right. I should not say these things about someone, it's not something they expect of me. But too many things happening at the same time in the got damn morning.

"You know Shiori is busy with her special training. She can't be there for you all the time" my mom stated and I felt sad that Shiori couldn't be in Katsuo's place.

"You also have to show Katsuo around the village" my eyes widened at her decision.

"Why me?! Can't you do it?"

"I don't have time, I have to do paper work"

"I refuse!" I really didn't want to be close to that boy.

"Aiko! You have to behave. Remember, you're the successor of our village. You have to show them that you're mature! What have gotten in to you?" My mom stated and I didn't have a choice but to go back and meet them again.

I showed him around village but mostly the center of it because that's where all the important places are like malls, the Yamakage estate and the academy school. I didn't however show him where I lived as I didn't want him too meet my little sister as she deserves better things than wasting time with one of the most irritating human beings I knew at that time.

"Hey. Who is this Shiori you talked about before?" He had eavesdrop on me and my mother's conversation earlier.

"Shiori is my friend who protects me, no matter what and guards me better than you will ever do" I explained, without giving him a glance.

"Then why isn't she your guard?" He mocked so I stopped walking and turned around to face him.

"Because she has special trainings that will make her even stronger!" I had no clues to why I got so much confidence all of a sudden.

"She sounds like a busy person. I thought she protected you no matter what? How is she suppose to protect you now if someone were to attack you?" He argued while playing around with his samurai sword that he never used in our fight. He probably thought I was too "weak" to even waste his time to use his weapon.

"Stab me"

"What?! Are you stupid? I'm you're bodyguard, not an assassin!" He panicked. He was however not afraid to "beat" me a couple of hours ago, he was really weird to me. But I was acting unusual too. I was so desperate to waste my energy on him, I wanted so badly to prove him something. I didn't want him to feel like he can just stomp in to my village and do whatever he wanted to.

"You're a crazy girl.." he took out his sword and pointed it at me. I stood wide open and just waited for him to try to hurt me. I could clearly see he was doubting as his grip on his weapon was unstable, he was also shaking.

He finally ran towards me, and when he reached a couple of inches away from me, Shiori appeared and kicked him in the stomach. Hisashi also appeared but he stayed by my side.

"Hisashi? What are you doing here?!" I didn't expect him to show up too.

"I was walking with Shiori and she suddenly teleported us here" he explained with an awkward face. I looked back at Shiori and Katsuo who was still standing after the kick. Katsuo looked back at me, and then turned his gaze on Hisashi.

"Who's that guy?!" I thought only that girl would show up?" He was just as surprised as me.

"This is Hisashi. He is a member of my team, as well as Shiori" I explained as the samurai examined my two teammates.

"You look weak!" He pointed at Shiori.

"And what do you even do? I admit that Aiko's strong but she need strong team mates, right?" He was being cocky again.

"Says the guy who couldn't block an attack that he was expecting" Shiori teased as she withdraw her tantō sword.

"I have something up my sleeve too" Hisashi possesses the ice release kekkei genkai and had an specialties to make snow creatures that do his biddings.

He breathed a snowy breath and created hawks made of snow that started to peck on Katsuo.

"Cut it out!" He yelled as the snow hawks disappeared. While the samurai was distracted, Shiori took the chance to sneak behind him and grip his arm while one of her hands had her blade close to his throat.

Other youth ninjas like us started to surround us, as they could hear our little fight.

The crowd started discuss who the new boy was, they also started to debate who was stronger, him or Shiori.

Even some people speculated that Katsuo might be weaker than Shiori, which made the samurai boy snap.

"I'm not weak!" He bend over despite Shiori holding him, making her fall over him and on to the ground, losing her grip on the samurai.

The crowd got worse and started to chant "FIGHT!" encouraging them to continue.

"Well this was a big mess" Fumiko and Yumi walked up to me with Shinju and her girls.

"I didn't really expect it to be this big of a deal.." I sighed at scenario I had caused, only to just prove a silly boy that wasn't worth my time.

Shiori and Katsuo faced each other, eager to exchange blows.

"Oh my! Aiko, do you know who that boy is?" Asked Shinju and had her eyes focused on the new boy.

"His name is Katsuo. Apparently he will be some kind of body guard to me. I'm sure that I do not need one"

"You're lucky! He is really cute.." when she had her eyes on something then she really wanted it.

When I look back at the scenery, they had already started to clash their swords with one another.

"I don't like this.." I heard Yumi whisper. She was holding Fumiko's arm tightly. I didn't understand why she was worried as Shiori had the upper hand at that moment.

She was very quick with her slashes so it made Katsuo have to block most of the time. He finally breaks through and lashes out with his wooden katana. Shiori quickly jumped backwards avoiding the sudden attack but just a few seconds pass before the next one. Katsuo turns his sword and shoves the handle into Shiori's stomach making her lose her breath for a second. She double over trying to regain her strength and Katsuo took that as an opportunity. He moved back to hold the handle and quickly lashed for her side. Shiori hastily brought her arm up blocking his attack but I'm sure it will leave a nasty bruise. With Katsuo's strength it would certainly hurt. But his technique was lacking and he could really improve on his speed.

Right after Shiori had blocked Katsuo's attack she took one step forward to get power from her body and swing a right hook at Katsuo's face. It hit his cheekbone hard and with a crack, he flew to the side. Whether something was broken or not I couldn't tell or which one of them who had gotten the most hurt of her attack. If you didn't know how to hit someone on their cheekbone then you should avoid it. It could hurt you more then your opponent.

Katsuo took his fall with his forearm and in the same motion he tried to swipe Shiori of her feet with a low kick. Sloppy. I didn't understand why mom choose him.

Small punches was exchanged between the two teens, none of them fatal.

Katsuo changed the grip of his sword again, using the same technique with hitting Shiori with the hilt instead, and he hit her under the chin so she was stunned for a second, which gave him the time to tackle her so she fell to the ground. He held his sword normally and pointed it at Shiori's heart. Shiori just looked at the boy and accepted his victory. Katsuo then looked at me with determination in his eyes.

"See? I am worthy of being your body guard!" I could only feel how my heart sank as everyone cheered for him. At that moment, he became accepted by the other ninjas. He looked around the crowd with a proud smile.

I walked forward to the scene as Katsuo straightened his position, thinking that I would congratulate him or something. I walked passed him and kept walking up to Shiori. I kneeled down so I could held her upper body so I could examine if there were any more injuries.

"Are you okey?"

"What you think?" She pushed me away and tried to stand up straight.

"What the heck was that? She was just trying to help you!" Katsuo became pissed of Shiori's action. He wasn't used to this kinda of behavior as I was. I already knew why Shiori acted the way she did.

"Why do you care?" Katsuo grabbed Shiori by the collar and looked in to her eyes.

"Hey. Aiko taught me a little something and I respect her. And when I heard that you protect her like I do, then you probably was a good person. I was wrong! I'm disappointed at you"

"It's not like you're the only one who is" She punched Katsuo in the gut so he let her go, trying to catch his breath at the time. Shiori started to walk away, until Katsuo talked to her again.

"Aren't you guys friends? Why are you being like this?"

"... we're not friends?" She proceeded to walk away as we all stood there and watched her disappear.

When we lost sight of her, the other ninjas started to cheer again. Some of them even walk up to Katuso and said how "cool" and "brave" he was. I didn't see any bravery however. He walked up to me with some people following him.

"See! I'm a good bodyguard, right?" He said with a big grin on his face. I said "sure" and quickly walked away from the crowd that had already decreased.

There were very few of my friends that kept following me, and I could feel their chakra being uneasy, they were worried.

"Is everything okey Aiko?"

"Is there anything we can do?"

"We can help you!" Their concern started to make me more frustrated than I already was. I stopped walking and turned around to face the group of friends. I told them that I would be fine and gave them a fake smile. Fumiko and Yumi knew I was lying right away. I felt lucky that they were my closest friends that had this respect for my weird action towards everyone else. My behavior was silly just as Shiori's. It was one of the reasons why I didn't blame her.

Me and the rest of the group ended up hanging outside of a bakery that had some tables and chairs outside. We sat there for a while, talking and having fun, I myself tried to collect myself. Som people tried to cheer me up with some snacks. I declined the offers and said that I didn't want any. Katsuo found us after a while. I sighed as I didn't want to waste more energy or patience.

"Aiko! You just disappeared?" He said, being very exhausted. You could tell that he had been running around the village.

"It's not like I have the responsibility for you?" I said tiredly as everyone got worried again.

"We just want to take it easy right now" said Fumiko as he just sat down on ground.

"I just don't understand. I've heard from the others that you want to protect Shiori, but why? She is not worth your time!" He stated as I rolled my eyes. It was just a repeat what he was saying. He hasn't been the first one who has complained about my decisions.

"She is my friend"

"Didn't you hear her? She said loud and clear that she didn't want you as their friend!" He was getting frustrated and so was I, but I didn't want to lash out in front of everyone.

"She's just afraid to admit, that's all.." I protested and started to walk away again. The others tried to talk to Katsuo, convincing him that he should leave me alone for now. The samurai was very stubborn. He started to push by people so he could get to me, so my friends even had to block the way for Katsuo.

"Aiko! Why aren't you listening to me?!" Ignoring his calls, I kept walking my way home with Fumiko and Yumi.

As we arrived at my house and stood at my stairway, the girls took the opportunity to ask what everything was about. I sighed loudly before explaining.

"The boy is a samurai, and as I said before, his name is Katsuo. He doesn't seem to like Shiori, like everyone else."

"Why would your mom hire a samurai to be your bodyguard?"

"Yeah that's strange..." we all sat down on the stairs and discussed.

"I don't even need a bodyguard! I just don't understand why... do you guys think she thinks that I'm weak?" I asked nervously and they protested immediately.

"Of course not!"

"You're being silly again. You know you are strong and so does your mom" it hurt to think if mom saw me as weak so I was needed a body guard. I knew I was so much better than him. I could handle myself.

"What I really don't understand is why he was getting so frustrated over Shiori. I thought Katsuo was a carefree slack off that didn't give two shits about anything!" Katsuo was a confusing person, but he probably thought the same thing about me.

"Isn't that a part of being a bodyguard? Caring for the one they should protect?" Stated Yumi but I shook my head. I wanted to deny what she said.

"I agree with her. I think he acts careless to look cool. But when it really comes to it, he'll save you in a heartbeat, as it is his job" It made sense what Fumiko said, but it made me also wonder why he would try to act "cool". I couldn't really see a reason for him to do that.

"What I don't get is that you get so frustrated so easily by him. You usually brush it off" Said Fumiko as I tried to figure it out myself.

"I don't even know to be honest.."

"Aiko!" It was Harumiko, she probably had finished the academy school early. She was a top student after all, she did her homework and essays in a minute.

We gave each other a hug as the girls asked her how the academy was.

"It was good I guess. I finished all the school work before school finished so I could go home!" She was happy that she was doing so great in school.

"You're so smart! Just like Kamiko!"

"Who is Kamiko? You always talk about her" I could feel how the other girls eyes switched their stare between me and my younger sister.

"Oh. She was just a very skilled ninja that used to live here! You're both are pretty much a genius!" I told her but she wasn't really smiling, she just nodded.

I thanked my friends for following me home and then I went inside my house with my sister.

"Should I make something for you?" She asked and I said yes to her offer.

"I also need to prepare for the mission too... ugh" I wasn't tolerating anything that day, I couldn't even think positive on something simple as planning out for my duty.

"Aiko.. you seem very tired?" Even my sister could tell that I wasn't "normal".

"Yeah.. some weird guy just came in to the village and tries to be popular or something. What I hate the most is that he is so cocky! And when it comes to it, then he is just a wimp! Such a dumbass!" I was suddenly ranting but Harumiko thought it was funny and just giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"You've never acted like this before to someone except for Shiori" I realized what she said was actually true.

Me and Shiori argued sometimes, she was the only one who could make me frustrated so easily. But with Katsuo it was also the same thing, but without knowing each other for long. It made me even more pissed how he could make me act like I did with no effort.

After a while, I ate food with my sister. Mother came home later as she also had to prepare for tomorrow.

"What's happening tomorrow? It seems really important?" Asked my sister as we ate.

"Mother is actually inviting some doctors from another village to come here and sell some medicine that we need. You've heard that more and more people are getting sick?" She nodded and I felt that she was a bit scared.

"But everything will be fine, okey? They'll just gonna make some deal, and we have to guard in case something happens"

"Like what?" She was throwing questions at me.

"If some intruder gets in or someone from our village tries to attack them and so on"

"What if something dangerous happen? Will you stop them?" I reassured that I would protect our home.

We put our dishes on the counter and left some food for mother so she could eat later.

I went up stairs and tried to calm myself. I took deep breaths and examined my room. I had recently put some of the weapon that I got as gift, on the walls. One weapon that I couldn't put up was Kamiko's kunai sword. She was so skilled with her weapon. I thought that I'll never be as good as her, so I felt that I didn't deserve to wield the sword. I just had it leaning in the corner of my room.

I started to prepare stuff, as packing my pouches with medical equipment or small weapons as shurikens. I also recalled that Hisashi told me yesterday, that Shiori wanted me to take some nets with me. It was probably for her traps. I thought she was a little silly that she didn't said it to me but instead let Hisashi say it instead.

After the preparation, I immediately went to bed, falling asleep immediately. As I fell asleep, I was connected to the dream world, as I called it. I saw my sister sitting down and humming a calm melody that made me feel all my stress just wash away.

"Oh hi there! I didn't notice at first" Said Kamiko and scratched the back of her head. I reassured her that it was fine and sat down beside her.

"How are you?" She held my hands tightly and gave me a smile.

"A bit tired.. things are changing" Kamiko looked surprised when I said that. She must have been so used to what Mother has usually done in the village.

"What's changing?" She asked excitedly.

"Things.. I just got a new bodyguard for some reason. Mom decided that" Kamiko laughed at the thought of me having a random person following me around.

"I was so sure you didn't need anyone to protect you?"

"I said that to mom but she won't listen to me!" I was talking like a child again. The conversation felt familiar even though we have never discussed this topic before.

"Mother has her reason. Who knows, maybe they save your life one day?" I just rolled my eyes of the idea of Katsuo being some kind of hero.

"Don't look like that. You always have that face when you're grumpy, which the majority of the time is when you don't get your ice cream?" I told her I haven't properly get to eat ice cream for a couple of years and Kamiko widened her eyes.

"Wait what? Why?"

"Mom won't let me..." I explained to her the situation where I ate so much ice cream everyday that I had to be banned from the one and only ice cream stand in the village or else I would try to steal it.

"Why am I not surprised by this?" She said and chuckled.

"It's not funny! I miss eating ice cream with you.." I said with a sad tone and she ruffled my hair.

"You know I just want you to be happy"

"Then why did you leave..?" She widened her eyes in chock. There was just silence filling the atmosphere.

"I'm sorry-"

"You didn't even care if there was any more solution!" Old feelings was creeping back on me again. Feelings that had been stored for years since my older sisters death.

"You just left me without trying to get a cure! You just gave up, Just like Dad!" I was almost yelling at her.

"There was no other solution. The parasite would host someone else if it had killed me and make that other person sick as well. Somebody else has to kill me along with the parasite inside of me. Then it won't spread" Explained Kamiko. It was the same sickness as the one we needed to search medicine for. Hopefully, we would find something useful from the merchant that would visit our village the next day.

"So... there was no other way?" I said, not trying to let myself tear up.

"No, I'm sorry. I wish I could have stayed with you a little longer"

"Yeah... so you could see our little sister. She is... so like you. She's a genius! She got so much talent and-"

"Don't worry. I've seen it all" she interrupted, making me chocked of what she said.

"H-how?"

"I can see everything that you see. I've witnessed all of your experience. I haven't missed anything" she said, giving me a hug.

"I'm always with you. No matter what happens in your life. I'll stay in your heart, Always"

Me and Hisashi were listening to Makoto Sensei as he was setting a trap at the entrance of our village. Katsuo was here as well. His presence annoyed me because it was suppose to be my teams mission.

"The mission is simple. Hold your guard up while the visitor is here and makes some deal with Yamakage-sama. Remember: don't attack in case someone ambush, capture them or chase them out of the village. If a situation gets critical, then you're allowed to attack. Understood?"

"Yes Sensei!" We said, except for Katsuo, he just nodded. I hated his arrogance.

"The medical merchants will be here soon. So be ready!" Makoto then walked up to my mother and started to discuss with her instead. I walked over to Shiori, with Hisashi following me.

"How's it going with the trap?" Asked Hisashi and she told us it would be done soon.

"Hey you! You're not gonna push Aiko or something?" It was Katsuo who was mocking with Shiori.

"You could just minding your own business?" Shiori retorted.

"Wish I could. But I got to protect Aiko from stupid idiots like you!"

"Can you just leave us alone? We're not up for this right now!" I interrupted and Katsuo backed off a little.

"But I swear! If you do anything to her, I will be there to stop you Shiori!"

"They're coming!" Everyone, including my mom, stood in a straight line at the left side of the entrance and watched the visitor enter our village. They were riding in an pretty old cart that was being pulled by a horse.

An unnecessary short man and an unnecessary big man with a gas mask came out of the cart with three maids who held two grey cases each.

"Greetings Lord Yamakage. It's an honor to finally meet you in person!" It was the small man who seemed to be in charge of things.

"Who are these people if I may ask?" This time it was the bigger guy who asked.

"This is my daughter" mother put her hand on my shoulder.

"She will be the successor of our village. These three is her three-man-made team. Makoto being the Jounin leader. This little guy is Aiko's bodyguard. His young and new so his possibilities is endless"

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you!" His optimist was very weird and unsettling, like the whole crew was.

They started to have a "friendly" conversation. He started to ask stuff about the village and our family, which I wasn't fund of. Especially when the subject changed to my sister.

"Such wisely decision to go to school instead! She much be a talented genius!" He praised, making me uncomfortable.

"Enough chitchat. We have the medical supply you wanted to check on" said the big man with a demanding voice.

The maids opened they're cases which was filled with different potions, herbs and pills. The crew let all of us examine the supply.

"Hmm.. these kind of herbs are actually toxic" said Hisashi and the whole crew turned their gaze on him, but he wasn't fazed by it.

"Excuse me?" Said the man with the gas mask.

"Yeah. These herbs turns toxic if it get mixed with those potions you were mentioning. It feels like you are trying to poison us" he looked at the small merchant who looked very nervous. My mother closed the case she was holding and returned it to the sales man.

"I'm sorry but I think we won't bake a deal-"

"That's alright, we will plunder the whole village anyway!" The biggest guy threw poison bombs to the ground, making the area get covered with poison clouds. Me and my mother couldn't be affected so we weren't worrying about ourself. Hisashi created a gas mask out of snow that he breathed. Shiori and Katsuo had to cover their mouths and noses. The biggest guy and the maidens spread across the village. Mother told us to run after them while Katsuo handled the small man.

I tried to pursue the masked man but I lost sight of him, and then heard an explosion. The sound seemed to come from the academic school area. I felt an overwhelming panic as I remembered that Harumiko was still in there.

I rushed to the academy and upon arriving, witnessed the horrible state the school was. The building was covered with a thick poisoned mist. Some parts of the building was also broken and destroyed. I rushed in to the building and was a little relived that barely anyone was here. I was still worried so I tried to recall what classroom Harumiko had and sprinted to that room.

When I entered the classroom, I saw the merchant maiden holding Harumiko so she couldn't escape, as well holding a syringe in her hand that contained a neon colored substance.

"The syringe won't affect her. Our clan can withstand any poison!" I said but the maiden grinned.

"Oh we know. Thats why we came up with this newly developed poison! This one is different as it directly infects the brain and then stick to the bone. It doesn't matter how liquid your chakra matter is. The poison won't disperse!" The maiden could be lying. But I was too afraid to disobey.

"What do you even want with her? Let her go! Isn't me that you want? I am the sucesor, isn't it me you want dead?!"

"Aiko.. Just run!" the building was crumbling and I had to think fast.

"We want the village treasury! Your village has been a mystery for years! Because of how enclosed this place has been, no one barely knows anything about it. Until now, we will unravel the mystery of this village and take its pride! Just like they did with our village!"

"Like your village? What are you even talking abou-!" Someone was behind my back. The person had used their arm to lift me up by the arm pits so I couldn't move my arms or try to run.

"You're talking too much sister. Why haven't you poisoned the youngest child yet?" They referred each other as sister suddenly. The crew were probably closer to each other than I thought back then.

"I know, I-I'm sorry. This is the end for you!" The maiden was about to inject the poison in to my sister but she hesitated for some reasons.

"Please don't do it! Leave my little sister alone! Capture me instead! Just let her go!" I screamed and the maiden who held me was getting annoyed.

"What are you waiting for sister? Just do it!" The other maiden injected the syringe in to my sister and her her body fell down to the floor, almost lifeless.

"HARUMIKO!!!" I yelled and I felt a needle pierced through my neck. A liquid was transferred to my body and I started to feel numb. The maiden holding me had a syringe too. She drop me, letting me fall to the ground as well. They left the room as fast as possible before they could get trapped in the building.

My body felt cold and dead. My mind was losing focus and my bones felt like they were being eaten on the inside.

I looked at my sister, blaming myself for not being quicker to her rescue. She was just a child, she didn't deserve to experience something bad as the situation. Harumiko didn't deserve to die like Kamiko. Remembering the horrible past of my older sister made me feel mad.

I felt like I had failed Harumiko like I failed Kamiko. I started to blame myself and quietly said "I'm sorry" to my younger sister, even though she couldn't hear me. I was sorry that I wasn't quick enough, and that I wasn't there for her when she needed me the most. I apologized for being a bad sister who gave her praise and love that had been to waste because I couldn't save her. I had to do one last thing for Harumiko. I couldn't give up at that moment!

I felt a burst of energy out of no where. I pushed myself to stand up somewhat, but was shaking violently. If we didn't get out of the school building, then we would get crush with it. I hastily walked over to my younger sister and help her up. I looked around the room and decided that the window was the fastest exit. We were at the third floor but I was taking that risk. I rushed and jumped out of the window. Letting us fall. I turned myself so I was the one taking the hit when we landed on the ground. It was painful and it felt like my spine had been broken in to pieces.

I looked down at my sister who I could barely feel their chakra. I cried as I thought I had lost her.

"At least.. I'll die with you" I said quietly as I closed my eyes, accepting that my life could possibly end too. I could hear somebody talking while slowly losing my consciousness.

"Their pretty stupid to also bring the actual cure for the unique poison"

"They probably brought it with them in case they would accidentally inject them self with it"

"That proves that their really stupid!" I felt a sharp needle piercing in to my arm, and inject a painful serum which made my head feel more lightened, and my bones wasn't burning with pain anymore. I opened my eyes and saw Shiori and Katsuo with syringes.

"Shiori..?"

"Collect yourself and get going to capture the others" she teleported somewhere else so she left me with my sister and Katsuo.

"Is Harumiko gonna be alright?" I asked worriedly and he gave me a smile.

"Yep! We have your sister the cure too!" I felt so relived after the answer.

"Haru... everything is going to be okey" I was breaking down in tears as I held my sister closely, not wanting to let her go.

"Aiko, we need to get a move on!" He helped me up as we sneaked to my home so no one was after us. I put Harumiko in her bed and made sure to close the window and lock the doors so it would be difficult to get to her.

"You're very overprotective over your sister?"

"If something happens to Harumiko, then I might actually kill the idiot" I said as we rushed back to the chaos.

We tried to retrace the areas where we had seen the merchant crew before but we stumbled upon Makoto instead. He informed us that they had captured everyone except for the man with the gas mask. As I had collected myself, I could distinguish people's chakra better. I felt his bitter chakra at our local library. We rushed to the library and found the big guy, trying to steal some books. He probably wanted more information about our village and my clan. He noticed we were nearby and turned his attention towards us.

"Oh, its you guys. Are you going to try to fight me? It's no use, you're short little friend didn't stand a chance against me!" Bragged the masked guy and laughed.

"That person is not even strong! You're gonna fight the real deal!" Said Katsuo mockingly but I shut him down by punching his stomach.

"You guys can't defeat me! My poison will kill you before you're be able to make me sweat!" He used the "poison mist" technique and covered the room with poison. The others had yet again to cover their mouth and nose so they wouldn't inhale the dangerous mist. It was pretty thick, so it was hard to see the surroundings. It didn't take too long to hear that Katsuo got knocked out, which didn't really surprise me. I looked back towards where the sound came from. He was in front of me but he quickly went for Makoto Sensei.

"Sensei!" I warned and He kicked the merchant the man backed away and tried to go for me. I used "Fire Ball" jutsu so he wouldn't come closer to me. I was wrong because he had walked through the flame without a scratch! He grabbed my throat and lifted me up, making me have very difficult to breath.

"You're village will be ruined, just like the other small village we have plundered and destroyed!" He pulled out a kunai and was about to stab me, until he yelled in pain and dropped me so I fell to the floor. It was still hard to see things but I could make out a small silhouette behind the big guy.

"You leave my big sister alone!" Yelled the small little figure. It was my little sister.

"Harumiko!" She proceeded to push the man around. Even for her small size, she possessed a great power.

We started to fight together against the gas masked man. It felt different fighting that time. Maybe it was because my sister was with me. It was a similar feeling when we fought against mother after all, but the current fight was more tense and serious. Even though I was worried, I was also happy that I had Harumiko by my side. We were so synced in battle! I didn't have to be worried every time I threw kunai that I accidentally hit my sister, because she always knew where she should be when I make a ranged attack. While me and my sister distracted the bad guy, Makoto sense I prepared a trap for him.

After fighting for a while, we both used the same technique as we battled our mom. "Fire ball" jutsu and "water trumpet" jutsu. We hit our enemy and accidentally blew up the library roof. The merchant had fainted on the spot where Makoto Sensei had set a net trap. It activated and the net tightly wrapped around him.

"That was great you two!" Complemented my Sensei and we walked back to the entrance with Sensei carrying the bad guy. And then me carrying Katsuo over my shoulder. I felt humiliated that I had to carry my fainted bodyguard. When we got closer to the entrance where Mother waited for us, the big guy woke up and knocked out Makoto Sensei. At that moment we had two persons unconscious.

"Not again!" The gas masked man was about to launch at us but I went toe to toe with him by grabbing each other's should and started pushing.

"You will be destroyed, just like our village! We have been plundered from time to time until we went almost extinct! Now it's our turn to do the same!" The man wanted revenge, revenge on the wrong people.

"No! I'm gonna protect my village! I'm gonna save it, something you couldn't do!!" I released my grip and hastily used the summoning jutsu and a deer appeared. They started butting the guys towards the rest of the merchant crew and their carriage. The big man tried to resist by grabbing the deers horn and pushing back, but I was to no avail. The deer kept butting the shit out of the whole damn thing and made the carriage and the crew activate the other trap that Shiori had prepared.

All of them had been captured in a gigantic net.

The deer returned to me proudly and I thanked them for their work. The deer disappeared and my mother approached us and she hugged both me and my sister tightly.

"You made me worried! Thank god you girls made it!" I could clearly hear it on her voice that's she had been afraid.

I group of anbus had gathered to the scene and properly captured them by handcuffing the whole crew.

"You have been destroying the properties of our village and you won't go without a punishment!" My mother said and the big man stood up with struggle.

"If someone is going to be punished then it's me! Leave the rest of my family alone!" Said the gas masked man.

"Family..?" My sister asked.

"Yes. We all used to live in a small village but because of the constant plunder of others, it got destroyed and we almost went extinct. We trained for years so we could plunder for survival, but it soon became like a habit and plundered just for "fun" and "revenge"" the man had suffered so he live the way of the people that made him suffer in the first place.

"But.. you still considere each other as family?" I questioned and they all nodded.

"We are everything we have left. So please. Punish me and leave the others!" The man begged and my mother doubted.

"You have endangered my home. You might have a rough past but we can't forgive the fact that you-"

"Mom!" I interrupted. I felt bad for them. For being pushed so far to do bad deed just to survive. Two of the maidens had shown clearly that they still knew what was most important.

"Can't we.. just let them go this time? They just want to survive like we do"

"Of course we won't! They can leak anything-"

"We won't" it was the big man who interrupted this time.

"We won't say anything if you let them go" He offered and my mother still hesitated.

"Mom please. Just let them go. We both know how it feels to protect someone, and you're also afraid for our village? If the same thing happened to us, then we might have ended up like them. So please. Forgive them just this time, I know you would have been begging for mercy too if you were in their shoes" I tried to convince her. My mother looked at me shockingly, not really know how to answer.

"I think you should listen to her, Yamakage" Shiori appeared from behind. She must had recovered from fighting.

"What?" My mother questioned.

"You daughter is the successor after all. Consider listening to her, she will take over your place one day" Shiori said and my mother went silent.

"Shiori.. thank you" she didn't look at me, instead her focus was on my mother that tried to decide what to do.

"Alright then. We will let your crew go. But if we get to know that any of our information is leaked, then we will haunt you down, and kill you" my mother warned and the gas masked man thanked our mother for her mercy. The Anbu released the medic crew and the settled everything so they can leave.

"I wish you luck for a brighter future for you" my mother said and sent them off.

"You kid" said the big guy who still stood in front of me.

"You're a weird one. For seeing a pity to a trash like us. But I thank you for giving us a chance, after all we did" he explained and I smiled awkwardly.

"We will settle a home. And rebuild what we had and make something great for others. Just like you did, for sparing us" was his final words before leaving us with the rest of his crew that he considered as a family.

"Looks like you did it. I'll reward you when we get home. I got to close up the gates right now" Mother said as she rushed back to the Kage tower. I knew there was a certain room in the tower that had a bunch of panels with buttons, I knew one of them closed the entrance and the area above the mountain. There was many more buttons however that was a mystery to me.

Even though they tried to kill me and my sister, I still forgive them. I was surprised that I did what I did but I didn't really regret a thing.

The gates closed to our village and me and my sister decided to carry the fainted boy to the hospital.

"Who is that boy with the samurai sword?" Asked Harumiko and I groaned.

"Katsuo is my bodyguard. He is very weak though" I explained and rolled my eyes. My sister however got a sly smirk that made me very uncomfortable.

"Why are you smiling like that?" She just proceeded to laugh innocently as we made our way to the kage tower to meet up with everyone else.

Mother started to praise us for protecting the village.

"I'm proud to see that you Aiko used the summoning jutsu you have learned!"

"Harumiko.. you weren't supposed to be involved in this big mess but you handled the situation very well!" We didn't tell our mother what happened at the academy. We felt it would made her blame herself.

"I'm sorry Lord Yamakage that I couldn't do too much to the situation" apologized my Sensei as he bowed.

"I disagree. You did the best you could and the traps you and Shiori made were very important to the salvation to the whole scenario. And Hisashi made our the job less stressful by smoothly catching the rest of the maids" mother didn't praise Katsuo for anything. It made me feel rewarded than anything else that mother praised me for. Mother dismissed us and we went our separate ways, well except for Katsuo who kept following me and me sister instead.

"Did you hear that? She didn't say anything about me! That's really rude"

"Well maybe she did that because you didn't really do anything specific in the mission?" I said annoyingly and he got very offended.

"Why do you mean I didn't do anything?! Remember who gave you the antidote!" It made me pissed that he actually had a point.

"Yeah yeah whatever. Leave us alone. We're gonna go home" I said and took a sharp right turn to an alleyway. I knew it took more time to take the path we took but I felt it was worth as long as Katsuo didn't stalk us.

I sighed and said "finally" and slowed down my pace a bit.

"That was Katsuo?" asked my little sister and I nodded slowly.

"Hehe. He is funny!" I cringed at the feeling of every time he has tried to be "funny"

We made our way home and started to cook some food for us. Harumiko did mostly of the work because I only chipped some of the ingredients that she needed. She also didn't really trust me in the kitchen... which was fair enough.

After she finished making food, we sat down and ate peacefully. I looked at the clocked and was surprised by how slowly the time had passed. It had been five in the afternoon and the whole mission started at ten in the noon.

"Are you gonna rest for now on?" Asked my sister and I replied "yes"

I went to my room to draw a little, after I had eaten with Harumiko.

I was alone in my room for a while, just drawing and sketching what was coming to my mind. My little sister loved when I was drawing, it didn't matter what I drew, It would be beautiful in her eyes. It ended up that Harumiko inherited my hobby.

"AIKO. OPEN THE WINDOW" I got scared by the sudden muffled voice. I slowly approached my window and opened it. I didn't see anything particularly until I switched my gaze down to see a hanging Hisashi. My room was on the second floor so he could possibly fall down and hurt himself.

"What are you doing?!"

"Asking you if you want to eat something fancy with me and Shiori?" Said Hisashi and pointed at Shiori who stood down there on the safe ground.

"Yeah sure? But why didn't you just knock on the door like normal people?"

"It's boring to be normal" he said and I chuckled.

"Oh well. I'll be outside in a second" I said and closed the window.

I could hear how the two argued about how to get Hisashi down as I walked down the stairs.

I was about to grab the door knob but a sudden loud noice came from outside so I hesitated. I waited a few seconds and then opened the door to see Hisashi literally sitting on Shiori who seemed to be in pain.

"This is the worst idea ever..."

"At least you subdued the fall for me"

"Fuck you" I helped the two dorks to get up.

"Okey so what's your plan?"

"Food" said Shiori as her belly made a sounds.

"I can pay for us guys so you don't have to worry about money" said Hisashi as we walked towards to the center of the village.

"We can't eat here! It's so expensive!"

"But I said I will pay!"

"But what about your money?!" Me and Hisashi started to argue about the restauran we would eat. He had to choose the most luxury restaurant in the whole damn village!

"I have money!"

"You can't waste all of your money on us!"

"But you deserve it! We did so great today on our mission and I want to do something special because of that" Hisashi usually stays cool. But he is always so caring when it comes to his team and friends. I stood there speechless for a seconds until Shiori finally dragged us in to the five star restaurant.

I complained that Hisashi could have warned me about going to a popular place like the one we were in, after we had ordered our menus.

"You don't have to dress up for this?"

"You're thinking too much" they said and I had to shrug it off. It felt a bit uncomfortable that the village could see that I ate in a fancy restaurant with just ordinary home clothing.

My friends made me more comfortable as the time went by as we ate our delicious food that took a while to get delivered.

"Guys. Be honest with me. What do you guys think of my bodyguard"

"Do you mean your boyfrie-" Hisashi cut Shiori of by punching her in the stomach.

"Well... he is cool I guess? He doesn't bother me so I'm happy" said Hisashi, trying not to sound rude. I was pretty sure he thought that Katsuo was annoying.

"I think he is a loser" said Shiori and leaned back on her chair. They then asked me what my opinion was. I was quite for a moment before responding.

"He is... very annoying. He is so rash and arrogant!" My two team mates started to laugh hysterically.

"He will never get her!"

"The poor guy has a long way to go!" I didn't understand a thing what my friend was talking about. Even the others in the restaurant started to look at us because we made such a loud noice. But it's not often we had fun together like that so it wasn't so unsettling as it might have looked like.

"What's so funny? I don't understand"

"Naah, nothing!" Shiori laughed it off as they tried to calm them self.

As we kept having fun at the place. We realized that our Sensei was sitting on a table nearby with the Jōnin squad leader Izumi! She was leader for Hitoshi, Fumiko and Aki.

"Hey. Isn't that Makoto Sensei?" Asked Hisashi and I said "yes" as an answers.

"Should we say "hi" or something?"

"We walk up to him" Shiori stood up and walked towards our Sensei so me and Hisashi followed her.

"Hi Makoto Sensei and Izumi sensei! What are you guys doing here?" We already had an idea why the two sensei's where there. But we felt like teasing him a little.

"Oh hi kids! Umm.. we're just having dinner together!" Makoto Sensei had already sounded nervous and awkward.

"Why not with the rest of the Jōnin squad leaders?" Asked Shiori and Makoto got even more nervous and started to sweat a little.

"Oh. We thought it might be too many! It's more calm if we're few!"

"Yeah but just the two of you..?" Shiori acted suspicious and Izumi sensei started to giggle.

"How come you're all so dressed up too?" I asked and they both blushed.

"It kinda like a date!" I said teasingly and they both got very red in the face. Makoto Sensei started to panic and explain to Izumi Sensei how the situation actually was.

We sneaked away from the scene and Shiori took the time to throw a bagel at our Sensei, which made him more embarrassed. We ran out of the restaurant and Shiori accidentally crashed in to Shinju. Her girl friends was right behind her too.

"Watch where you going!" She scolded her while Shiori didn't respond to her and just got up from the ground.

Shinju looked at me, and I could feel that her gaze wasn't a kind one. It felt different this time.

"Aiko! Are you spending time with this pest again?"

"I've told you before. She is my friend" I walked up to her so I stood in front of Shiori, in case if Shinju did anything to her.

"You can do so much better without her! Oh well you're the one who end up losing on it" she did usually made snort comments like that. Something must have made her upset.

"It's my time I'm wasting and no one gets hurt by that-"

"Katsuo seems hurt whenever you ignore him and "spends" time on a trash like her!" Retorted Shinju and pointed at Shiori.

"He talks so much about! Do you guys have a thing for each other? You're just acting "trying hard to get"?" I got disgust by the thought of me being together with a giant loser like Katsuo.

"Ew no. He is such a loud bragging loser. He is not even on my level" I answered and she looked more pissed.

"Yeah right" was all she said and then left with the other girls. I turned around and hugged Shiori.

"Don't take them too personal. They can be good too" I explained. But she pushed me away from the hug.

"Yeah sure" she said and walked away.

"Hisashi. Why do I always mess up when it comes to Shiori?" He grabbed my shoulder and turned me around so I faced him.

"You do what you can do for her and that is enough. It also depends on Shiori if she wants to receive the help you give her" he reassured and patted me on the back.

"I just wished that she knows that she deserves a second chance!"

"She will realize that sooner or later" he dragged me home while I was feeling down. Hisashi was my neighbor so it wasn't convenient for him to walk with me. We said goodbye to each other and walked to our respectively house.

My family had already fallen asleep so I decided to go outside and visit my sisters grave. Upon arriving, I felt a very familiar presence.

"What are you doing here.." I asked, to the only person who was with me.

"So this is what actually happened to Kamiko" Shiori walked out of the shadows and kept going until she stood between me and the grave.

"You should go now" I said without looking at her. I kept my gaze on Kamiko's grave.

"Why?"

"Because you shouldn't be here!" I was getting upset. It felt like I was boiling with anger.

"Why shouldn't I? Give me a reason" she was taunting me. I usually didn't get mad but she was invading a personal space and I felt I had the right to feel the way I felt.

"Because nobody is allowed to be here! No one! This is mine and Kamiko's place to be at peace. And no one is allowed to trespass" I was very strict. I almost acted like my own mother in some ways.

"Why didn't you just tell the others she died? What's the point of keeping her death as a secrete?" She just kept asking things that I didn't want to deal with.

"Just go away.."

"Not until you answer my questions"

"Her grave is a sacred place! Kamiko was such a gentle human being who was too good for this world! She was genuine and a hard worker. She did everything for the village! And no one deserves to be near this place!" Shiori started to laugh that made me feel uneasy. Nothing with that situation was funny.

"And you think you deserve to be here? Have you ever thought about the thing you've done? You lie to the whole village, as well as act like someone else in front of majority of the people in our home. You can't even be honest with Harumiko about your older sister"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" I wast stomping the ground like a small child did when they got mad.

"If I don't deserve to be here, then you don't deserve that either" I was breathing heavily. I hated how right she was. We stood there for a while in silence. Only the sound of breeze could be heard.

"We told the whole village that Kamiko had left and would never return. Everyone believed us because the Yamakage never lied, right? We came up with the excuse so no one would feel some kind of remorse. The Shimizu clan had to be on the top. We never felt it was necessary for Harumiko to know she is related to Kamiko. We wanted her to grow up happy without letting the past corrupt her" I explained and Shiori still stood in front of me in the quietness.

"Shiori"

"Mm?"

"Everything we said in here, stays the in here. Okey?"


	11. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10 Shiori  
**_  
"Hmmm. Your outburst seems to be more commonly to happen when Aiko is nearby you" doctor Atsushi tried to explain some hypotheses about why my outburst has come to life again. Once was when I participated in the exam, and then again when Katsuo tried to mock me the third time. And all of those times was Aiko close by. I didn't really understand what it had to do with anything.

"And?"

"My theory is that your kekkei genkai works better when Aiko is with you, as both of you share the same cells parts" the doctor did an experiment with me a couple of years ago. He injected me with some of Aiko's blood as we had the same blood type. He got a blood bag from the hospital when Aiko did a blood sample. The goal was to let Aiko's gene adjust to my kekkei genkai and my genes to make me stronger. Because the Shimizu clans bloodline is very unique, making their chakra so flexible so it can adjust to anything.

We thought the experiment was a failure until now. His theory was a proof that me and Aiko was connected. It also made me realize why I could sense the Shimizu's easily.

"And what will this information help us in any way?" I asked, not knowing what was going through the doctors head.

"I want to see if my theory is correct!

"Don't you dare make Aiko be involved in this crazy mess!" I yelled and I got electro shocked. Doctor Atsushi had recently put a tight "necklace" device that give me electric shocks whenever I made my voice too loud.

"Don't you shout at me!" He said and kept writing in his writing pad.

"And I wouldn't go so far and test things on the Shimizu family myself. If I did then I would have been thrown out of the village in an instant" oh did I wish he did.

"The device on your neck is also equipped with radar signal so I can keep a track on you" he further explained as I was nearly falling asleep in my cell.

"Are you listening to me?!" He raised his voice and I focused a little more.

"Yeah something about to await to see any more similarities to your theory?"

"Correct" I nailed it.

"But before you leave today. We have to check that the the Shimizu cells has spread too much, or worse" Doctor Atsushi has wanted me that if my body was too weak, then Aiko's cells might take over and then I possess the same abilities as the Shimizu clan. We hadn't been too worried about that situation as the doctor injected such a small amount of blood in to me. But not too long ago we realized that my eyes had tried to turn in to a golden color. It was still brown but you could see the golden tint in it. We assumed that it might have spread a little bit over time. Luckily it was only when I went berserker or when I used my plasma release. And it was only my right eye that changed.

We went to an experiment room that had a machine that was probably controlled by the panels nearby. Doctor Atsushi strapped me on to a chair that was in front of the big machine. The amount of experiment that had been done to me has made me barely terrified about anything.

The doctor walked over to the panels as I tiredly sat on the worn out chair.

"Hopefully the laser will help" he started to explain while pressing some button.

"The laser beam should subdue a bit of the Shimizu cells so it won't spread any furthe-" The machine had released a strong beam on to me, the power was mainly focused on my right eye so I felt an immense pain in that area.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Being stuck didn't make anything better. I really couldn't a thing. I fainted before the Doctor could stop the machine.

~~~

I woke up in my cell with a heavy headache. I sat up on the bed and scratched my head, feeling that I had bandage that covered my right face.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" I got panic because I didn't know how long I've been sleeping. My headache made it even worse. I looked around and realized that I was put in my cell again. I heard the sound of footstep growing closer to my room. I walked quickly to the bars and bagged for release. It wasn't the doctor who appeared, it was Aiko's little sister instead.

She got terrified and backed away from my cell.

"Shiori..? What happened to you?" I got disappointed as I knew that Harumiko couldn't open the cell for me. I sat on the ground sighed.

"It's a long story.."

"But you're hurt!"

"Just get the doctor for me!" I was acting rude towards her but I really needed to see Doctor Atsushi. She hesitated at first but she finally ran to get the doctor.

"Hm. You're finally awake-"

"what happened to me?!" I stood up as I yelled at him but because of that, I got shocked again so I fell to the floor.

"You never learn to behave.." he mocked but continued explaining.

"The laser beam was overloaded. I didn't expect that outcome so I tried to turn it off. The Shimizu cells is still there luckily-"

"Is that all you care about?!" I didn't care about the consequences anymore and let myself get shocked again.

"... there was no fatal damage when I examined you. However. You're right eye went blind"

"Blind..?" I was anxious. I started to think about how the others would react if they saw my eye. They all would question it and the bullying would get worse.

"You blinded me? I'm already too weak and now you have made it even worse! Wasn't your goal to make me stronger? So you guys could use me as some kind of secret weapon for the village?! Wasn't that the whole plan?! Well you fucked that up!" I yelled so much so the device destroyed itself. It seemed it had a limit until it would break of overuse. The doctor dispersed the laser bars and went in to my cell to beat me up.

"Don't question my decision" he said after the final punch in the face.

"I don't want you here. But if you go out then we will be discovered.. Teleport us to your shelter" he said dragged me out of the room. My cell was built with seals on it so I couldn't use any jutsu.

I tried to get up from the floor but I couldn't. It felt like I had boulder all over me, making me weak and unmovable.

"I said: teleport us!" He demanded but I could barely do anything.

"Teleport us!" He started to stomp on my back, making it even harder to get up. With the little energy I had left, I grabbed the doctor Atsushi's ankle and teleported to my home.

The doctor grabbed my shoulder and put me in a sitting position, making me lean against the wall. I was too weak to care about my surrounding but I could hear Chīsai bark.

The doctor took out ropes and tied my hands and feet. My body was almost lifeless, the main reason why I didn't fight back when he tied me up.

"I will come back to release you later. But if I notice that you've escaped earlier. Then you will be punished" was his final words before leaving me me beaten up and bruised.

Chīsai ran to me and pulled my clothes. I of course didn't not move which made Chīsai bark in fear. I sat like that for a long while until someone entered my shelter.

"Shiori, is everything fine? Chīsai is constantly barking and it made me worried-" Yumi was baffled to see me in that state.

"Shiori!" She quickly ran over to me and tried to untie the ropes.

"No.. don't!" I said and she stopped the process.

"But you're injured!" She argued but I just shook my head.

"If you release me.. I will get in trouble again.." it even hurt to speak. I couldn't say too much without feeling like my throat was burning.

"Who did this to you?!" I didn't say anything for a moment. I looked up to her and realized that I could still see her pretty face clearly even with my right eye being blind.

"At least.. I can still see your beautiful face"

"You're eye! What happened to it?" I explained that my right eye got permanently blind. I didn't tell her detailed however. Like how I got blind in the first place.

"I'm going to get Aiko and Fumiko-"

"No don't!"

"We have to! Don't you see how badly hurt you are?!" Yumi started to sound like Aiko.

"Just untie me instead.." I rather keep up with Yumi than Aiko for the moment. I knew that Aiko would flip out if she saw me.

Yumi untied the rope and I was free. She hugged me tightly as I could hear her quietly cry for a moment. I tried to embrace her but my body still hurt every time I moved.

"Let me try to heal you-"

"No. Don't waste your chakra on me" I tried to endure the pain and stood up.

"Where are you going?" She asked and I said that I needed some air. I knew that the doctor always spent time in his laboratory, so he wouldn't find me being outside at the moment. When he wanted to get me then he always sends Harumiko to do it.

While we took a promenade around town, I always bumped in to things or stumble. People looked at me like if I was handicapped. I technically was but I hated their looks. I could take care of myself. I was just not used to have one functional eye at that moment.

When we walked through a small pedestrian street, we stumbled upon Katsuo hanging out with some of the popular guys. I thought them to be annoying so I tried to walk aside from were they walk, but when I did that, I accidentally bumped on a trash can and fell with it.

"Shiori!" I heard how the guys behind our back laughed at me.

"Haha what a numb head!" I heard Katsuo laugh and I became even more frustrated. It was sad. I thought he was a decent guy. He even talked to me and Hisashi and revealed that he had the biggest crush on Aiko. It made me angry to know he changed just to "impress" Aiko.

I grabbed some of the trash that had fell from the can, and threw it on Katsuo and landed the throw with a miracle.

"Hey! Are you asking for a beating?!" They ran towards us and I grabbed Yumi's arm and teleported us to the fries stand, saving both of our skins.

"I'm hungry" I said tiredly and order two fries. I got surprisingly much ryō on my last mission so I could treat myself and friends on fries.

"Why are you dirty Shiori? You must have trained very hard today!" The man selling fries always tried to be positive to me, I didn't really know why.

"Oh, who is your friend?" He asked with a smirk. I turned around to see a blushing Yumi.

"She is a kind friend of mine" I simply replied and payed the fries and got them in a box.

"It's a very pretty friend you have" he teased but I ignored it.

We sat us down on a bench near the fry stand and enjoyed the meal undisturbed.

"How come that you like fries a lot?" She asked, trying to start a friendly conversation.

"Hmm" I tried to recall why I even started to eat that certain food. I could only remember that I've eaten it as far as I can remember.

"I like it because it was probably one of the first food I've ever eaten" I responded and tried to keep eating.

I always felt weird around Yumi. It felt like I had a constant rush, mixed with nervousness. But I could also sense a feeling of calmness. It was just a mix of all kind of emotions but I tried to contain myself.

"Are you okey Shiori? You're eating very slowly?" She asked worriedly. I shrugged it off and proceeded to finish eat my fries. We left the area and it didn't take too long until I started to bump into things again. Yumi took grabbed my arm gently and started to guide me.

"Let me be your right eye" she gave me a bright smile and I regretted being so negative around her. She lived regularly without the help of her left eye but she still managed.

"Thank you Yumi.." you could see how her cheeks turned a red pinkish color. It was very cute.

We continued our stroll through the village and stumble upon Talia and Hitoshi.

"Oh look who's got a new friend!" Hitoshi seemed very angry, even if he tried to hide it with a "joke".

"Leave them alone, Hitoshi. Remember that we had to do something-"

"Calm down. I'm just talking to her! Hey Shiori, When you gonna hang out with us again? Me and Talia is going to the abandoned building to get some. Wanna join?" I looked back at Yumi who had a worried expression. She held my arm tightly and it made up my decision clear.

"I'll pass this time" I replied and we kept walking.

"Yeah, leave us like you left the rest of the orphanage! You piece of trash!" He yelled and I withdraw my tantō sword and throw at him but he simply dodged it by stepping to the side.

"Hitoshi don't-" Talia tried to warm him but he was already running towards my way.

I put my hand on Yumi's shoulder and teleported her somewhere else.

"Shiori!" When she disappeared, I got tackled by Hitoshi. I fell to the ground and he sat on me and punched me in the face repeatedly. I could also sense a golden chakra rushing towards our destination.

"That's enough Hitoshi!" Talia tried to stop him by pulling him but it didn't work.

"Let me beat her to a pulp!" I couldn't focus when he kept punching me so I grabbed his fist and quickly teleported to my sword. I fell to my knees and tried to catch my breath. I felt this adrenaline rush again. I also started to laugh maniacally while being almost breathless.

"What the hell is so funny? you're the one that should be laughed at! You're one with this wimpy bruises and stupid white eye!" He had turned around to face me.

"That you're going to die.." I dashed towards Hitoshi and tackled him extremely hard. He even coughed out blood. He flew pretty far but he managed to get balance again.

He made the monkey hand seal and started to spit out rocks with an extremely speed and force. It was the "rock gun technique"

As the rocks came closer and expanded, I destroyed them all by simply punching them to pieces.

He stopped spewing the rocks and made the snake hand seal. His whole body started to turn darker. He ran towards me and we clashed our fists. I could feel that his hand had hardened. I realized he had used the "earth spear" technique.

We could throw hard punches at each and endure it, as well as keep hitting each other. Blood was spilling and bruises was left on each other's bodies. He couldn't maintain the hardened form and started to get brutally damaged, he did not give up however. He just kept getting up and tried to punch me over and over again.

"Why won't you just die?!" I've had enough of him. Me and Hitoshi usually argued and fought each other in the past and it looked like nothing had changed. We could fight for the most unnecessary things, like someone has stolen the others persons things. Our last fight was about the same topic. Both Talia and Hitoshi wasn't too happy about me hanging out with Yumi. Hitoshi was the one who was even pissed at me. He yelled and ranted and he didn't even have good points for his argues. I guess that fueled my rage even more.

Hitoshi had an incredible stamina. It was thanks to his taijutsu training. He was very skilled at both earth techniques and taijutsu.

He backed away from me and took stance.

"Seven heaven breathing methods! First activation!" Hitoshi's eyes turned white and an yellow aura surrounded his body. He dashed to me and I noticed that his speed had been increased greatly. I didn't have time to block when he punched me in the gut, it also actually hurt. I flew backwards and hit the ground.

"You think you can defeat me because you got a power up?! Think again!" We could fight toe to toe with each other.

More and more people had gathered around us, most of them were the orphanage kids.

"Shiori!" I heard a voice from the crowd. It was a small squeaky voice, I could hear how shaky it also was. It was obvious it was little Gina who witnessed the fight. She must have been terrified to look at me with a discolored skin. Not only that but also see how insane I could become. I hated that I couldn't do anything about the situation. I could only be there and see what a monster I became.

I grabbed Hitoshi's face and slams his head on to the ground. He tried to resist by grabbing my wrist but to no avail. I turned my other free arm in to a sharp blade. I went for a stab in the temples but a rock hard fist hit me hard in the head so I fell back again.

I looked up to see Aiko who had used the "fist rock technique" so her right arm was covered with rocks. That jutsu was Akemi, Aiko's mother famous for. It was said she had successfully protected many people with that technique.

The crowd started to cheer for her, shouting her name as such. I didn't know that Aiko had been practicing earth techniques so I was very shocked to see her use her mother's famous jutsu.

"Shiori what happened to your eye? What happened to you at all?! Snapp out of this!" She said but I was just laughing at her.

"You know very well that this is me! This is the part of me that everyone is afraid of!" I yelled and laughed sinisterly.

"Then I turn you back to the Shiori that everyone respects!" I started to laugh even more. I laughed so much that I was almost out of breath. I also started to cough and cry. I wasn't sad, I was laughing because I thought everything in the scenario was fucked up. I was really going insane.

"Respect me? ME?! You might as well be crazy as me! But there can only be one shinobi maniac.. you have to- you have too... I will-" I couldn't bring myself to say that I wanted to kill Aiko. I could never do such a thing.

I stammered, trying to finish the sentence that my crazy self wanted to tell.

"I know Yumi is on her way here and I can't let her see you like this.. I'm sorry but I have to knock you out!" She ran towards me, ready to hit a punch on but I counter a hard punch back and destroyed the rock surrounding her fists Aiko looked terrified at how powerful I could be.

She quickly jumped back, making distance between us. I stood on all four and held hard on the ground. I charged up my chakra and the two nature elements to form my secondary kekkei genkai nature. I was about to launch a big blast and my mindless self didn't care about the destruction I would make. "I" tried to aim at Aiko but everything was blurry and spinning.

"Plasma style: plasma blast!" I a ball of plasma gathered in front of my gaping mouth, and it was about to fire. Before I could even blast someone, my head got dunked on to the ground.

"Mom!" My plasma orb dispersed and I could barely move away from the ground.

"Earth style: ground bedrock!" I heard Akemi's voice say and two rock walls appeared on the side and squashed me so It became even harder for me to get out. The Yamakage had jumped away from me before she also could get stuck between the rock walls.

"Mom please. Don't hurt her-" I fainted because of the lack of oxygen that the rock walls caused.

~~~

I woke up and noticed the ugly walls with the seals that makes me want to puke.

"Oh god no. Not here again..." I looked at the laser bars area and saw the doctor Atsushi stand in front of them.

"You escaped from the ropes, wandering around town like you own the place, goes berserk because of a silly arguments and not only that, you left the place earlier than you should and not only that, you exposed you're injuries and blindness!" He said and opened the cell.

"I- I couldn't stand being there for a long time! I needed air, I needed to breath!" I tried to explain as he approached me.

"No excuses" he grabbed my collar and threw me out of them cell. And hit the wall. He exited the room and proceeded to throw me around the place, and occasionally kicking my gut in the process.

"You worthless piece of meat! I knew I never should have applied to this job" he grabbed my right arm had twisted it roughly.

"Aaaaaaah!" He threw me over so I hit the ground.

"But those whole experiment is for the village. To protect it and grow. To become strong and independent! And everyone will at last fear us with our experimented weapon. And that is you!" He kicked me and even stomped me at time.

"You should know that disobeying me is not an option!" He grabbed my color again and pushed me against the wall. He kept abusing my body by beating it.

After the beating. He threw me back in to the cell. I felt even more lifeless than the last time. I cried, I just let my tears run from my eyes. I slowly grabbed my right arm and twisted it back in to place. It hurt badly but I had to do it.

~~~

I wasn't allowed to go home for three days. And when I came home, I got instantly a little wolf cub on my feet.

"Sisi! Sisi disappeared!"

"I'm sorry. I had to be with the doctor the past few days" I explained and Chisaī started to whimper. The cub was oblivious, but even she could tell that something was wrong with the doctor.

I spent some alone time before someone barged into my room.

"Shiori! Are you here?" I was surprised that is was Yumi who came in without even knocking.

"Yeah. I've already eaten so I don't need the lunch-" My sentence was cut of short because Yumi attacked me with a hug.

"I'm so glad your back!" I started to wonder if she hadn't heard of anything about the fight. She must have heard it somewhere because news like that gets spread very quickly.

"Why? Everyone else is probably happy that I disappeared" I replied and she looked confused at me.

"Why would you say something like that..?"

"Because it's true! Don't you know what happened?!" Her face turned in to a sad expression.

"I do. But everyone should have forgot everything, right?"

"Yeah. Everyone can totally forget how the villages scum tried to kill their princess!" Her eyes widened at me. She almost looked terrified.

"I th-thought it wasn't true.. that you wanted to kill Aiko" well deep down, I don't want to hurt Aiko at all. But everything that happened in the past are too hard for me to even be kind to the blond haired girl. Even after all the time I rejected her friendship, she kept standing there with open arms. And the megalomaniac side of me didn't make it any better. That certain side of me that just wanted everything dead.

"It is true. All of those rumors was true"

"B-but Aiko said they're weren't-"

"Then she lied" I simply said to Yumi and she started to cry. We just stood there in the middle of the shelter. I just stared at her while she cried. I didn't try to hug her or anything. She needed to know the bad side of me.

"No. It can't be. She would never lie-"

"Aiko lied! I'm a monster Yumi! I just wanted anyone dead at that moment!" I yelled, trying to convince her.

"No you're not! You're not a monster! If you actually are a monster, then... then I should be dead now? Right?" She looked up to me with a smile, but also with tears in her eyes. I didn't say anything as a response. I just kept looking at her.

"I know there are many people that doesn't look brightly at you. But there are people that also don't mind you at all, they even respect you!" Yumi said and held my hands.

"Do.. you want to do me a favor?"

"Hm?"

"Follow me to the orphanage"

~~~

I never thought I would go to that place willingly. But Yumi's words made me think. I wanted to do something different so I didn't sit around depressed.

We entered the building and we was greeted with someone shouting over the building.

"Get away you losers!" It was a little boy that made the havoc. You could make out the sound of running steps and furnitures being roughly moved.

"I guess there's someone new?" Said Yumi who held my hand. She led me through the building, searching for the boy.

"Do we need to find him? He is probably gonna be a bother.."

"Shiori. Didn't you say you wanted to do something different when we walked earlier? This is your chance" she argued and I couldn't really argue back.

"Haha you can't get me you old ladies!" A small boy ran past us with the speed of light.

"So fast for being so young!" Commented Yumi and we followed the direction of the running boy. After running around the orphanage, we stumble upon the chaotic boy who ran away from from some nurses.

I stretched out my foot and made the boy trip. I could examined the boy better. He was almost bald headed and looked like to be 7 years old.

"What was that for?! You stupid!" He yelled and pointed at me.

"Yumi? What are you doing here?" Asked one of the nurses.

"I'm visiting to see how the kids are doing. We take care of this trouble maker" explained Yumi but the nurses looked suspicious at me.

"Can we trust her?" The nurses questioned and Yumi turned to look at me.

"Yeah. She is trustworthy" she gave me a smile and turned back to the nurses who nodded at her and left us with the small boy.

"Who do you think you are!"

"I would ask you the same thing" the kid started to lose his patience.

"Don't act you're something! I could beat you any time!"

"I'm like 8 years older than you-"

"I've beaten an adult until he cried like a baby!" He kept on bragging things that was unbelievable.

"You really want to you fight me?"

"Yeah I'm gonna beat you!" Yumi looked at me worriedly, like if I would actually hurt the little kid. I reassured her that I wouldn't go all out on the boy and then teleported us to the training grounds.

"Where are we?" Asked the 7 year old.

"This is called a training ground. People goes to this place to hone their skills as shinobi" explained Yumi, as we realized that the little boy rather listened to her than me.

"So we're going to fight here or what?" I walked over to the other side of the sparring field.

"Alright but I'm not going lose to this lazy looking ass!" He taunted.

"Don't be rude. She was the one who teleported us after all" she stated and then the little boy looked at me shockingly, and confused.

"Her? I don't believe that! I'm gonna prove that by beating her" he rushed straight forwards me. He was very fast but I could still block his punches and kicks. He realized that keeping on like that wouldn't work so he backed away.

He crossed his index and middle fingers in to a cross.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Four more replicas of him appeared. I had some knowledge about the technique as the Yamakage used it a few times. He used the same tactic to just repeatedly punch and kick me with all of the clones. I could still block all of them. One of the clone tried to do a right hook in my face but I caught his fist with my hand and marked him with my seal before throwing him in to another clone and both disappeared.

The three remaining tried to attack me at the same time, hoping that I wouldn't have time to protect me from all of them, but I could. Two tried to attack me from the side while the other one tried in front. The only thing I had to do was to step backwards right before they would hit me. As I did that, they all hit each other instead. Two of them disappeared and then there was only one left.

"I'm not done yet!" He said while standing up. He took out a kunai from his pocket and chakra started surround it in a bursting manner around the sharp edge of the weapon. The chakra started to turn into a whirlwind around the kunai, making it looking more like a sword. I was impressed that he had knowledge about chakra nature in his age. I withdraw my blade and dashed forward him to engage in a some kind of sword battle.

The kid actually could counter my attacks, which started to make me a little annoyed. While fighting him. I noticed that his kunai was very worn out. With enough force, I could cut the kunai in half. The blade of the kunai fell to the ground and it was only the handle that was left in the small kids hand.

"Are you done now?" I asked him. It took a while before he even moved.

"N-no! I'm not giving up yet!" He threw the handle away and then picked up the blade instead. He pointed it at me with a smile.

"I told you. I won't give up to someone like you!" I could see that there were a few blood drops falling from his hand. He could still emit wind chakra around the blade but it looked more like a dagger that time.

It wasn't hard fighting him with his broken kunai. I only had to block a couple of times and then kick his wrist so he dropped the blade. Then I put my sword close to his throat.

"I win" I said and put my tantō sword in the hilt which was strapped around my waist, while I walk towards Yumi

"Dammit! I still don't believe that you teleported-" I was almost beside Yumi but I took my time and teleported so I was in front of the boy.

"H-how do you do that?!" I pointed at his hand. He started to examine it and realized he had a small seal on his middle finger.

"That seal lets me teleport to whatever person or object that has that seal" I explained and he immediately started to ask me if I could teach him it but I said no.

"Why not?!"

"It's a complicated jutsu-"

"I can learn it anyways! I know the jutsu in no time!" His confidence was annoying, but I didn't mind him too much.

"Let's go back for now" I said and I teleported us to the orphanage again.

"What is your name by the way?" Asked Yumi.

"My name is Isamu!" He ran in to the building and we returned to go back to our places.

"Take care Shiori. I'll see you soon" we went our separate ways. I looked up and saw how late it had become. I went straight home and went to sleep.

~~~

In the middle of the night, I felt an uneasy feeling. It felt like winter had to decide to appear in the middle of the summer for no reason. I woke up and saw a man with the same mask as always.

"You again?!"

"Hello Shiori. I'm here to ask you-"

"I'm not joining you! I said immediately and he went quiet for a second.

"I can train you. I can make you stronger in a better way than that doctor that seems to have failed your right eye" he said and pointed at the blind eye.

"I rather keep up and suffer with doctor Atsushi than going with a creep like you" I retorted but he just laughed.

"One day, you will follow my steps" he said and disappeared with the wind. As fast as he disappeared, the Yamakage busted in to my home. She was exhausted. She started to examine my shelter and then looked at me worriedly.

"Shiori. Was there a mysterious man in here?" She asked and I lied to her.

"No. I just heard you running in here"

"Hmm... I was so sure I felt his chakra.. oh well, I'm gonna patrol around the village. I'm sorry for disturbing you-"

"I'm the one who should say sorry.." I said quickly and she looked confusedly at me.

"I- I tried to kill Aiko" Akemi sighed and sat beside me on the mattress.

"I already know that you didn't mean it. It's your kekkei genkai messes with your mind. I know that you wouldn't hurt her with purpose" she reassured.

"I need to go back to my duties. But have a nice sleep" she left me and I could go back to sleep without any stress.


	12. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11 Aiko**_

It felt useless to practice against Katsuo to be honest. We were practicing and I only used earth styled jutsu which I wasn't used to, and he was still losing.

"God fucking damn it!" He threw his wooden katana sword and sat down on the floor.

"Have you ever thought about thinking what your foe might do in a battle? You know, reading their pattern?" I suggested but he just scuffed it off.

"That's not my style of fighting!"

"No wonder why you lose all the time" I had enough wasting my training with him. I did it better alone.

"I won against that freak Shiori!" I grabbed his collar and looked in to deep in his eyes.

"Don't you call my friend a freak in front of me.." I said, throwing him back to the ground. I was about to walk out of the practice room but Katsuo had to add an another comment.

"You're being the stupid one who's want to protect someone that tried to kill you!" He said and I stopped my pace.

"No. She just.. She didn't know what she was doing. She lost her mind for a moment. It's her kekkei genkai. You wouldn't understand" I sighed and tried to leave but he was coming with more arguments.

"Oh wow. A kekkei genkai that makes you into a murderous psychopath! Yeah, so believable"

"I told you, you wouldn't understand!" I yelled and exited the room. I hastily walked out of the Kage building and made my way to Shiori's shelter. I needed to know her point of view about the whole kekkei genkai situation. I was almost at her home but someone grabbed my arm.

"Aiko! She will just try to kill you again!" Said Katsuo and held my arm tightly so I couldn't walk away.

"Leave me alone! You can't decide what I'm suppose to do. Let me go!" I pulled my back roughly so he let it go.

"Can't we do something instead? Hang out with the others instead of.. Shiori" he suggested.

"Yeah sure" I said ironically and rolled my eyes.

"Why don't you just hang out with Shinju and the other while I just have a calmly conversation with my best friend? How does that sound?" Katsuo had started to hang out with the "popular" people, including Shinju. You could almost think that they were together. Weirdly enough, nothing was either confirmed, or official in that case.

"What are you talking about? I don't only hang out with her.. come on, can't we have some fun for once?" He said and tried to hold my hand. I snatched my hand away from him. Feeling disgusted that he tried to do.. something?

"Like what..?" I asked and he looked up. It's a thing he do when he thinks. At least what I've noticed.

"Can't we invite some people and have a grill party or something?" I actually laughed at his suggestion.

"Yeah right... never" I proceeded to walk away but he quickly tried to slow me down by being in the way.

"Wait wait wait! Okey so what about we... hang out tonight? Just only you and me" I raised my eyebrow. Worried about that he might set me up for a prank or something.

"It's gonna be fun, I promise!" He sounded so excited. I didn't understand the deal.

"Sure. If I'm allowed to talk to Shiori" I said and his face turned neutral.

"... sure. But I've warned you!" He dashed off somewhere else and finally left me alone.

I walked to Shiori's shelter and entered her home to see her sitting on her worn out couch, smoking a cigarette.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk about... what happened a week ago" I said and she finished her cigarette and stomp it on to the floor.

"I know you weren't yourself that day. Your kekkei genkai takes over and you do things that you don't mean to do. Including when you're... yelling stuff?" I realized that she was very tired. Her eyes were dull and it looked like she couldn't really hold up her body.

"What do you mean?" She said and coughed. I had a feeling that smoking is what she must have mostly done recently.

"When you were yelling and screaming at me, you also started to stutter. The others speculates that you.. wanted to kill me? I think that it was ridiculous. I know that you would never want to do such a thing. Right?" Shiori's expressionless face made me even doubt about what I was saying.

"I never wanted to kill someone so badly before that moment" she said roughly, making me taking a step back.

"If I had kill you. They would have thrown me out of this hellhole and I would be finally free" I was speechless. I didn't expect those words she had given me. I felt that my head started to spin. There were too much thoughts running around my head. But at the same time, I felt so.. empty? The nervousness and stress I had was completely gone.

"Y-you're just joking with me! I know you don't actually want to hurt me? We're friends! We have known each other since.. since..?" My thoughts were so messed up, I didn't remember how long I have known Shiori.

"You don't even remember when we first.. bonded. I should have killed you back then" she said as Chīsai started to bark at her owner.

"... I hoped it was only rumors" it hurt hearing Shiori talk to me like I was the reason she wasn't happy. Or at least, that was it sounded like at that moment.

"You should leave" I left the shelter as fast as she said those words. I couldn't believe that sudden change. I always thought Shiori didn't really care about the ones who hated her, but that time, it took a great toll on her.

I went straight back to the kage building. I needed to talk to my mother. It felt like mother knew almost everything. Of course she really didn't but she was a head source I used for knowledge.

I Slammed open the door without thinking and my mother head shot up and was shocked to see me.

"Is something the matter dear?" She asked and put her pencil down. I closed the door and sighed.

"It's... Shiori" I stammered.

"Is she out off control again?!" My mother quickly stood up but I shook my head.

"No no! I need to ask something about her again" mother sat down on her chair again and waited patiently.

"I talked to her about what happened last week. Because everyone says that.. she tried to kill me that day. I don't want to believe them so I spoke with her personally and.. Shiori admitted that she wanted to kill me" my voice was failing me. I was rambling constantly and stumbled on words so mother embraced me to calm down.

"Why. Why would she do such a thing to me? I haven't done anything wrong to her!"

"How are you so sure she meant it?" I calmed my uneven breathes.

"It sounded like she meant what she said. She sounded so bitter and mad. She also looked very tired" I explained to mother.

"Tired you said? Maybe she had it rough recently since the outburst? She might just be mad at everything and accidentally weighed it down on you because you happen to be there at that moment. I'm sure she has so much feelings stored inside her and she doesn't completely know how to corporate with it. When everything has calmed down. I'm sure she will turn to normal again. She has cared for you since a very young age after all!" My mother was confident and positive even in situation she wasn't really involved in.

"How are you so sure? Do you even know Shiori that well?" I questioned and she giggled.

"An old acquaintance taught me an important thing. As a good leader for your village. You have to try to treat the whole village as your family. Everyone in our home is important" she answered and patted my shoulder.

"Mom. I want to voluntary work today- Aiko!" My little sister hugged me from behind and then climbed up my back.

"Hi there cutie!" I said and kissed her cheek. I walked closer to mothers work desk and saw a lot of letters from the "Hidden Lake Village". Most of the letters had encouragement that my mother should get support from other village than them self. It felt like that they felt bad for us.

"The hospital needs assistance. It's getting even more stressful when the sickness is spreading even more..." our mother handed my little sister some papers.

"Oh. And Doctor Atsushi would also like to have some help around the laboratory. You can go to him if you finish early at the hospital" my mother explained and I was a bit surprised that someone was even allowed to be in the laboratory except for Doctor Atsushi and the authorities like my mother.

"You can work at the laboratory? That must be very interesting!" I said and tried to be cheerful so I could hide my recent mood swing.

"Mm.." I could hear that my sister held something inside her mind. I felt that her grip around me tightened a little.

"Should I piggy ride you to the hospital?" Harumiko chanted "yay piggy ride!" And we made our way to the hospital.

~~~

As we arrived, Harumiko walked up to one of the nurses and showed her the paper.

"You're voluntary here again? You're such a kind child!" They cheered.

"Hi Aiko! Just leaving your sister to work?"

"Yeah. I'll be off now!" I said goodbye to them and made my way to the exist. As I did, a nurse rushed by me with a patient. It was Fumiko's mother. I stared at the sick and exhausted woman as she disappeared in the hospital corridors. I felt bad as I realized that Fumiko probably was going through what I did as a kid.

I decided to visit my right hand friend and see if she was alright. I knocked on the door and a tall man with bags under his eye. Fumiko's father must have been very stressed about what happened to his wife.

"Hi there Aiko-sama! I didn't know you would come here" he tried to be cheerful. But you could still see clearly how much he was in pain.

"I wanted to visit Fumiko" I said and he lead me to her. She was baking cupcakes.

"Hi Fumiko" I sat down on their dinner table while she was mixing the ingredients.

"Hi. I'm just making some cupcake for mother. We are going to visit her later tonight" she explained, without making eye contact with me. She seemed to be very focused on the baking.

"I'm sure she will be okey" I actually had no idea how it would end. My own sister would have died by the sickness if I didn't put her to peace first, but there was no idea to bring it up. What my best friend needed was comfort.

"How are you so sure? Don't you know how many people have died by this stupid curse of a sickness?" She was talking a rough and fast pace. It showed how frustrated she actually was.

"I don't" I lied.

"But I rather be positive about the chances that there is still hope, than telling you harsh facts that might hurt you" I said while she put the undone cupcakes in the oven. She turned around to finally face me. Her eyes was sore and also had bags under them like her father.

"I guess you're right. You probably know more about the sickness than I do" a whole lot more.

"I just wish they came up with a cure soon. They only know how to slow it down for now" she slide down to the floor and sighed. I rushed to her and gave her a tight hug.

"It's just a matter of time before she dies!" Tears started to run down her cheek..

"Shhh shhh. That's not true. I'm sure we will find something before it gets any worse" I reassured and rubbed her back.

"Aiko.. please. I just want everything to be over" Fumiko begged while holding my cloak tightly.

"I will do anything to make this sickness go away. I promise" I wiped away her tears with my thumbs.

"Your mother is strong too. I'm sure she will make it until we find something. I mean, that is why our mothers always told us how heroic they were in the last war?"

"Yeah.. they did" We sat on the floor for a while, until Fumiko needed to take out the cupcakes from the oven.

"Thank you Aiko. But I think I need some time for myself now" she insisted and I nodded.

"Tell me when something is up. Okey?" I said and she nodded and gave me a small smile through her tears. It wasn't often I saw her cry. She has always been the one to comfort people. She is a very motherly person so I understand why she didn't want people to see her vulnerable. I said goodbye to her and went back home for the day.

~~~

My family had already fallen asleep but I kept drawing at my desk. I had been thinking too much about the sickness and my sister Kamiko. She did die by the same sickness that was rampaging on our village. I remember how oblivious I was to how dangerous the sickness was. I always thought that it would go away eventually and everything would turn to normal. Kamiko convinced me even further by telling me how much we would train together when she got better.

I couldn't draw properly because I felt that my hand was getting more shaky of thinking about my older sister.

I suddenly heard something by the window which interrupted my drawing. I walked over to the window, thinking that it might be Hisashi bothering me again.

To my surprise, when I opened the window, I saw Katsuo holding something, as well as carrying an odd looking case behind his back. Probably a small rock which he used to throw on my window to get my attention. He wasn't too stupid after all.

"What are you doing here?" I asked with a low voice. Trying not wake anyone.

"Don't remember? We're going to hang out together!"

"Keep your voice down" He was loud as always.

"Alright, alright. But come down here will you?" I sighed and climbed down to Katsuo.

"What's you're plan?" I said.

"Follow me!" He started to run towards the direction where the main plaza was. We arrived at where all the stands are. All of them were closed and everything felt kinda dead.

"Let's get something small to eat!" He said and walked over to the fruit stand.

"You can't take fruit from those boxes! That's stealing!" I warned him and he stopped and looked at me with an annoyed look.

"Well no shit! It's not like he will notice anything! He doesn't count them anyways" he said and opened a wooden box full of apples.

"Here. Have one!" He handed me on apple but I just stared at him.

"Come on! You won't get in trouble to eat one apple! Besides. Doesn't Shiori steal like this too?" I got flash back when Shiori tried to steal from a food stand when we were younger.

"She does it for survival. You're doing it for "fun"" I argued but he rolled his eyes.

"Still he won't notice anything. Just take the damn fruit" I snatched the fruit from his hand and ate the apple slowly.

"See? Not so dangerous" he said as we started to walk again. I hated how he always try to treat me things. It wasn't really helping me liking the samurai boy. He always tried to treat me on everything, like candies and soda drinks. It was annoying that he tried to get my attention when he always hanged out with Shinju anyways. He is both annoying and confusing.

He led me to the mountain east side and moved a boulder that hid a hole.

"Where the heck does this lead to?" I was very skeptical about the idea. I was nervous he was luring me into something I would regret.

"It's a really cool place! You're gonna like it" he said waved his hand towards hole. I stood there for a moment. Thinking of all the possibilities that could have happened if I choose to follow him. I knew that I had brought me a kunai so if a critical situation occurred then I would just use the weapon.

"Sure.." I took a deep breath and walked closely to the hole. Before I could even examine it, Katsuo pushed me in to the hole and I slide down through the hollow cave. It was like you were on a big slide. When the cave slide ended, I had appeared in the deeper part under the mountain which I had never been before.

It was a big lake that shined a bright blue color through the dark. The lake itself had lighten up this area. The lake had also a beautiful waterfall. The place was strange however. There was no sound. You couldn't even hear the sound of the waterfall or the fishes that was swimming around. It was completely silent.

"This is beautiful.." I said quietly and started to hear Katsuo also arriving at the peaceful lake.

"Told you, you would like it!" He said proudly and stood up.

"So.. what now?" I asked. I had already examined the place so I didn't know if there was any more interesting things in there.

"Wait here" he said and started to jump on the small rock that was scattered randomly in the lake. He jumped to the middle part of the lake, which a big rock was. He sat on the rock and opened his oddly shaped case, it showed up to be a violin.

He started to play the instrument and it felt like the whole area had come to life. The fishes started to jump and you could hear the sound of splashing! And the loud sound of the waterfall roared beautifully in the area. It was like the music of nature started when Katsuo played the violin.

The melody he played was beautiful. It was peaceful and elegant. I got drown to the melody so I started to jumped to rock to rock so I got to the biggest rock where Katsuo was. I sat behind him so we were back to back.

We sat there for a while. Letting the music take over for a while. I could feel on his movement of his body, that he was enjoying what he was doing. He played with his heart.

The music came to an end and the place went silent again. The waterfall became quieter and quieter, and the fishes stopped jumping and only swam calmly in the water. Not even the both of us said anything for a while. But Katsuo broke the silence.

"This place makes me happy. It feels like that I'm allowed to exist here" he said. I didn't understand what he said, so I asked him what it was about.

"You know how we samurais comes from the land of iron? Well.. the other samurais didn't like me because I didn't really follow any of rules and trainings of a samurai. So I was kinda kicked out. They moved me to another place that would fit me more. So I ended up here." I actually felt a bit bad for the boy. He might be hasty but he was still a kid. He should be allowed to act a little bit "strange".

"But that man who is with you? He likes you, right?" I asked and Katsuo laughed.

"Uncle Iwao? Yeah. He is the only one who keeps up with me. That's why he followed me here. Even though we started living in your village. I still had the feeling that I didn't belong here. Well until I found this awesome place!" I finally understood his attitude and his choice of act. He just wanted a home. So he acted up so someone would notice and show him what a real home is.

It became silent between us again so I stood up and jumped back to land.

"Where are you going?"

"I still need some sleep. I'm suppose to have a dinner with a royal family. You should know that" I teased and he followed me back to the surface.

"It was nice hanging out with you Aiko! You are really different!" Said Katsuo and scratched the back of his head.

"Why am I so different? I'm also a human" I said jokingly.

"Because you don't act like everyone hopes you to be. You do have attitude and don't act like some kind of snob just because of your family status. It's really cool" he admitted and I felt.. relieved?

"Thank you Katsuo" I finally said and gave him a small smile.

We went our separate ways home and I could fall asleep easily.

~~~

Me and my sister fixed ourself with some fancy clothing. My mother was pretty strict when we met this royal family. The Sakkaku clan has been highly titled in our village since many years.

"Am I pretty?" My little sister wore a light blue kimono with a red silken belt around her waist. The outfit was covered in flower patterns which was in a darker shade of the blue hue.

"You are beautiful. You just have to wear it this evening" I knew Harumiko didn't really like to wear those kinda clothes. It wasn't her style.

I myself had also have to wear a Kimono. Mine was purple with white dragons spiraling around the dress. I had also a small silver belt around my waist.

"Are you done girls?" My mother came in the dressing room. She probably had the most magnificent Kimono of us all.

Her Kimono had a beautiful sunset that matched with the blue color. There was also small white flowers scattered over the outfit. To finish everything off, she had a small golden rope belt around her waist.

"Lets go. Makoto,Ryota and Katsuo will escort us along with two of the Anbu to the Sakkaku family" Ryota was the Jōnin squad leader for Yumi, Talia and Shinju. It was pretty much a mess in the team in my opinion.

We existed our home and greeted our temporarily guardians. Except for Katsuo...

Even if I got to know him a bit better. I still felt it was unnecessary to be my guard. It would have been more effective to let him have private lesson, similar to Shiori but he gets taught about the discipline of a samurai, and how to protect people and stuff.

The royal family didn't live too far away. We had meeting with them before. The adults usually talked about politics. The Sakkaku family had a daughter in my age. I didn't get along with her too well. My sister liked her however. She tells me how she loves how the girl sang to her.

The clan had a unique kekkei genkai. They used their voice to trap their opponent in to genjutsu. Letting the enemy fall prey in a elegant melody by their voice, it was truly a great weapon.

Luckily, my clan couldn't be affected by their ability. It is like when kids doesn't listen. The word come in one ear and then goes out, out of the other ear.

"We have arrived now!" Said one of the Anbus. The clans home was almost like a palace, but smaller. It felt weird that a big place like that was surrounded by smaller poor houses.

"Mom. Why can't we help the poor people?" Asked Harumiko. We did used to help them a lot but things came in the way.

"We will help them dear. But we have to prioritize the cure for the rampaging sickness first" mother explained and my sister nodded.

We entered the building to see the whole Sakkaku family standing before us and welcomed us.

"Welcome once again Shimizu! Let us discuss at our dinner table" we were escorted to a big beautiful dining hall. There was a long rectangular table with several chairs around it. The room was decorated with golden statues and beautiful flowers in pots around the walls. And there were huge windows so you could see the village.

We sat down on the long table. I sat beside my mother and sister, and the family's daughter in front of me. Her name was Eri. She had long golden blond hair with green eyes. She was also classified to be one of the most beautiful kunoichi in our age, as well as the village.

But unlike Shinju, she doesn't seek popularity. The only thing she want is to take care of her younger siblings. She is a bit spoiled though.

"It was a while since we had a meeting!" They had already started to discuss as our food got served by some maidens that worked around the house.

We sat and ate for a while until the father of the Sakkaku family asked something personal to my mother.

"Any word from your husband?" My mother froze for a second, and then put down her fork.

"Ah yeah. Tanaka. I haven't received a word from him" my mother explained and kept eating. Not once, but twice have we lied to the village. They also thought that father left for another reason. The truth was that he commit suicide.

He said something about that he couldn't live like he did anymore. He left me and my family for selfish reasons.

"It's so weird he haven't contacted us for all these years! I wonder what have happened to him?" Questioned the mother of the family.

"He is probably enjoying his journey outside the village" she was so calm talking about father. I was the opposite however. I was mad about our fathers death. He died for nothing. He could have get help or talk to the family but he didn't. He choose to die right away.

"It almost feels like he wanted to leave the village... you don't think he left because he didn't want to stay but was afraid to tell anyone?" Said the mother of the clan and it felt like my blood was boiling. No one had the right to talk to father like some kind of victim. He did not deserve to be felt sorry for.

I felt that if I stayed any longer I would says something "unnecessary". I put my cutleries down on my plate and carefully stood up.

"The food was delicious ms and mr Sakkaku. Sorry, but would you mind if I excused myself." The words seemed foreign and I didn't like the formal talk.

"No worries dear, thank you for dining with us this evening." Miss Sakkaku was the one who answered me. I turned around und and carefully walked towards the door. Before leaving I slightly bowed towards the table, then closing the door behind me.  
Upon walking out of the tuning hall I wandered around the big halls of the palace. I breathed heavy to let out of my anger.

After a while, I heard a girls voice shouting for me. But it wasn't my mother or sisters voice.

"Aiko! Where are you?! We need to assemble at my dads office!" By the annoyed tone of her voice, it was probably Eri.

"I'm here" I said, without really trying to make her hear me. I took a left turn and then Eri and our younger siblings was in front of me.

"We searched everywhere for you!" Said one of the boys.

"Yeah and we wasted time thanks to you" she said and turned around to walk back.

"Well sorry Mrs. important" I retorted and she stopped.

"Excuse me?" She turned around eyeing me over her shoulder.

"Sorry, my mind wondered off, Eri." Covering up my mistake I took a few steps forward meaning for her to show the way. She understood the gesture and we started our walk to the office. Unfortunately it seemed as Eri wasn't done yet.

"So why did you wander off in the first place, hm?" Her tone wasn't what you would call nice and it was almost like she was challenging me. Just like I wasn't too found of her, she wasn't too found of me.  
I didn't want to deal with her for the moment.

"Sorry if I offended you, my intention was just to get some fresh air." In my mind I said it simple, clarify that it wasn't something important. But I was still upset and you could clearly hear the annoyance in my voice.

"Oh, wasn't the dinner to your liking? It's understandable, really. Such food can only be enjoyed by high class people." She snorted yet again, eyeing me. She probably looked down on me, I already knew. It angered me and apparently it had shown on my face because seconds later, a petty little smirk played on Eri's lips. I decided to ignore her taunting and stare at the hallway before me.

"Well, maybe if your father still was around you could have afforded better food. Didn't, them? What was her name again... right, Kamiko left too? Something must be terribly wrong with your family if they both wanted to leave so badly." My mussels tensed and I could feel Harumiko's confused stare search for my eyes.

I gritted my teeth before answering her stupid, stupid, stupid taunt. She didn't know anything, she didn't know anything about my family.

"Our father is searching for supplies and information needed for the future of our village." It was words that had practically been carved into my mind. That was what I was supposed to say if someone asked.

"Oh yea? Do you really believe that? My guess is that he couldn't stand living with such an uncivilised child as you, he must have been so embarrassed just walking beside you." I stoped dead in my track and looked at her. No, I stared at her. Oh how I wanted to tell her that I hated my father. How I hated him more then anyone for leaving us.

"He didn't leave us Eri." My voice felt like sandpaper in my throat, rubbing the hissing words against the soft tissue. I was just defending him because I had to, I despise the man. I had no affection towards him anymore. She too stopped and looked back at me.

"It looks like so to me, you're just as useless as your da-"

"He's not useless!" Without thinking I had cut her off, screaming. She blinked surprised at me, this was probably her first time actually succeeding getting a reaction out of me.

"He's not useless." I repeated, more composed this time. I was actually as confused as she was. I had nothing but hatred towards my father. Nothing more. Telling myself this over and over again, I looked up at Eri.

"You got quite a black tongue Eri. Does your father know how you treat your guests?" My mind was flaring up with things I wanted to scream at her. Scream and shout it right in her face. But I composed myself, I would not gain anything by shouting my opinions at her.

Eri looked at me be willed and anger begin to pour out of her mouth.

"Are you threatening me? Do you know who I am!? Have you forgotten! What right do you have to talk to me like that. Did I make the little cry baby angry!" She was just blurting things that came to her mind, not that it made what she said any better.  
From my place just three meters away from Eri I walked up to her, giving power from ever step I took. I was soon right in front of her and hawked over her. I was actually a little shorter then Eri, but standing a little of my toes added enough length to tower over her. Not that she needed to know that. I opened my mouth to speak, and when I did, my voice was stern like a leader. One thing I had learnt front my dad.

"It seems it's you who has forgotten who I am." My eyes caught slight fear gleaming in her eyes. I took a last look before I walked past her and towards the now visible office door. I could hear Harumiko's light footsteps follow behind me as I placed my hand to knock on the door.  
I was under control, I got it. Just as my hand was about to make contact with the thick wooden door, a hand landed on my shoulder. My body was forced to turn around as the grip dragged me backwards. What I was met with was a pare of raging eyes. Eri had followed behind me and was now staring furiously at me.

"Do you think you can just come here and talk like you own this place?! I own this place!" This was maybe a stupid time to correct her, but my slip was already made before I realised my mistake.

"Well, technically it's your parents place..." my voice left the stone corridor in silence, only the ragged breathes of Eri could be heard.  
Harumiko had slowly made her way up to my side and was now pulling in my sleeve.

The tugs in the thin fabric made me turn towards her on my left side. She looked worried and confused, like she didn't know what to make out of the situation.

"Aiko, we should go now. I think mom is worried about us." My thoughts hastily traveled back to our mom but come fast to the conclusion by the lack of voices from inside of the office that she should be done discussing politics with the Sakkaku's and was probably taking a walk with them in the garden. Thinking about it I couldn't feel her chakra either. Deciding that it was the best decision to meet them up at the garden, hopefully meeting them there. And even if they weren't she would definitely be waiting outside for us to come so we could leave.

"You're right, lets go now." I put my right hand on Harumiko's back as I tried to peacefully retreat back to the safety of the adults. But we had only been able to take a few steps before I heard Eri's voice again.

"Just run back to mommie you scaredy cat, she's the only one you have left anyways! She's the only one who can stand you! And you don't even look anything alike! I bet you was daddies little girl and are going to leave them too! Just like your shit dad!" My gentle push on Harumiko's back had turned into a hard grip around her shoulder. I squeezed the air in an out of my lungs, forcing them to keep working. My little sister was just about to say something, but I wouldn't let her. I wouldn't let anyone say anything anymore. I turned and walked with fast steps toward Eri. I didn't care about my surroundings. I was going blind of raged.

"You wanna go at it!" I screamed. I was still holding my fast pace towards her.

"Wha-"

Before she could even form a word I had punched her. It was a quick fist slightly under her cheekbone. In all my fury I didn't notice that my kimono stitching ripped at my right shoulder.

"What's with you! Do you want a fight?!" Eri screamed her hand already covering her bruised cheek. At this I cracked my fingers in my fist.

"Yea, that's exactly what I want." It didn't take more then a second for my fist to collide with the ground Eri just had been laying on. Cracks danced on the floor and I was sure the hard marble would leave bruises on my knuckles. Even if I had used my chakra in the punch it was calculated wrong and I hadn't used enough. Luckily I didn't break any bones.

I was fast up in my feet searching for Eri. She had barely dodged my attack and was just a few meters away.

"Are you crazy!" Eri's voice was high pitched and panic begun to roll over her. I cursed as she picked up a kunai attached to a belt wrapped around her thigh. It was clumsy of me to not take notice of this, even if we hadn't planned to fight from the beginning. She charged forward with kunai in hand. I lifted my arm and stepped aside just as she was about stab my lower stomach. Thrown off balance when she didn't hit her target she stumbled forward letting me bring my arm back down again hitting her with my elbow on her back. Eri lost her breath and fell to the ground but was still in such control so she could turn her body around and throw her kunai at me. It was aimed for my shoulder but I avoided it only letting it scratch me before hitting the stone wall with a big clang.

That was a stupid move, throwing your only weapon away. The thought came to me that she may have hidden more weapons. Eri seemed to realise her supposed to be mistake and jumped backwards from her position on the floor, informing me she probably didn't have more weapons.

Taking the opportunity I intertwined my hands forming the seal of the snake then pushing my fist towards the floor. Upon colliding with each other an earthquake erupted and the floor begun to shake. Cracks in many different forms and sizes forced their way through the stone floor letting dust and pieces fall down towards what I assumed was the basement.  
I picked up big piece of the broken marble and threw it into the air then proceeded to do a roundhouse kick making it shoot forwards Eri's direction. She avoided the attack by twirling to the side as I picked up yet another marble block. Her best chance to get in a hit was to get close enough to either fight by using taijutsu or get a powerful hit with her jutsu.

So sprinting towards me I tried to send the next block. I lounged it into the air then I took a step forward, relying on my hips bring up my right leg and at the right moment kick it.  
Unfortunately for me the stone broke under the massive force and left me with a high kick in the air and a hastily approaching Eri. With no time to bring my leg down to secure my balance I forced it to my left side. Eri was close enough so tensing my mussels. I kicked back hitting her with my heel on the side of her head. I grunted as my leg protested by the weird angle I made the kick. I didn't get much rest as Eri was quick to regain her defence coming at me with a combination of kicks and fist directed towards my head.

It didn't take a professional to see that Eri had never been in to a serious fight were death was waiting after loss. Her experience was lacking to as she only aimed for my head. It would have been easier for her to try and hit my lower stomach and make me loose my breath, that would give her the time to hit my head she so desperately wanted to. She didn't focus on her foot work enough either making her slightly loose balance when kicking to high. Even if she was strong she had also focused on training the wrong mussels, clearly a sign of her doing the easier exercise her teacher had told her to do. Her ignorance irritated me. It irritated me even more that she was holding up her guard around me to the point it was hard getting in hits. I sighed, it was enough.

I dropped down, yet again avoiding a fist aimed for my face. balancing one of my hands on the ground I took charge and swinged my leg behind hers. I hit the back of her knee making her mussels automatically respond. She fell backwards bending her legs and I was quickly on top of her.  
She struggled to get up, trying to roll away underneath me. I pressed her down with my left hand. Pressing down underneath her collarbone making her already irregular breaths frantic. I pressed harder, putting as much force as I could while not suffocating her. I scuffed at her arrogance, thinking she could fight me and win.

"It's over." I looked into her eyes. There were widened and stared directly at me. Something flashes in them, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I readied my punch, curling my free hand into a fist. I raised it over my head ready to knock her out and end the stupid child's play.

"Aiko stop!" The pure distress that filled the voice dragged me out of my thoughts. My mind went wild as I wondered who had said my name. I quickly turned around to see Harumiko.

I hadn't even recognised her voice. Her face was crunched up into a weird expression, fear and confusion mixed together. Before I could ask her what was wrong, pain erupted on my cheekbone.

Eri had taken my distraction to her advantage, freeing her hand from underneath me. Her punch had luckily enough not broken anything, to my dismay not even her fingers. She also had the time to move away from me, making it hard for me to attack her back.  
I had taken the the hit hard, I felt a little dizzy and it was harder to concentrate. I knew it wouldn't take me long to recover, but it was frustrating. Frustrating not being able to think fast to come up with the best solution in a combat.

Which more importantly, I was currently in one.

"Aiko, Eri. Let's stop fighting. It's nothing to fight about. Right?" Harumiko had taken a step forward. Her voice was shaking ever so slightly, but you couldn't see it in her stance. She was hiding her nervousness well, but I knew my sister. My shoulders relaxed and I let out a breath. I straightened up from my fighting stands and looked over to Eri. I tried to clear the dizziness in my head, keeping my eyes closed for a few seconds.

"I'm not done with you." Eri hissed. She was clearly insulted over my previous words and actions, but I had composed myself. I would not let my emotions blind me again, it was a stupid mistake. It had clouded my decisions and made me choose the wrong solutions.

"I'm terribly sorry, it seems as I got a little carried away. I let my emotions cloud judgements." My voice was back to the cold and business like tone I used outside of family and friends.

Eri visibly gritted her teeth and looked down to the floor.

"Why are you always like that, looking down on people." She whispered. When I didn't answer she shot her head up staring at me in anger, confusion and jealousy. Sadness rimming her face.

"Why are you always so 'proper'. Why is it that after every one of your visits it's you my parents talks about!" She was almost yelling, not quite but her voice raised by the second. I stared coldly at her, this had nothing to do with me.

"I'm sorry you seem to feel this way, but unfortunately for you it's not my responsibility to neither listen or care about your personal problems." I just wanted to go back to mother and get home. This was stressful and I felt it itching in my hands. I needed to train. I needed to be better. Better than Eri, better than Omi, Shiori, Better than my team and sensei, everyone.

Better than mom.

The itching just got worse by the second. I brought my hand to my other and started to scratch my palm.

"So if you excuse me, me and my sister would like to take our leave." I said and turned to Harumiko. She had calmed down to, but I could see her eyes flicker towards Eri.

"You only care for yourself!" Eri screamed. I had already turned my back on her and was walking down the hall towards the exit.

"Oh, but that's right. There's that girl you care about. What was her name..." she continued, her voice smug. I didn't want to look back. She wasn't worth it. The itching on my palm didn't make anything better.

"Shiori right? Wonder if she would like to hear me sing." I tensed and looked over my shoulder. She didn't just say what I thought she did.

"I could do whatever I want with her. I would love to see the look in your eyes." She continued. I was about to answer her. Threaten her too. But I felt someone hug my arm.

"Aiko, lets go home." Harumiko voice was muffled as her face pressed against my clothing. I've never seen her like this. My happy little sister, always so strong. So much stronger than me. But my sight heavy my thoughts, I needed to be strong for her. I needed to protect her.

"Wonder what would happen if she accidentally hurt someone..." Eri paused.

"Or herself."

My focus directly turned to her. She had done it now. The itching got worse. Extremely Irritating.

"Harumiko, step aside." My voice was as cold as ice, dripping with the loathing I had towards my opponent. To my surprise she did let go. It wasn't until later I pondered for what reason.

I stepped up, legs apart cracking the floor underneath me. Heavy breaths filling my lungs. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my blood, filling me with power.

"Nobody tells me what to do, I'm the one who do the orders." She hissed yet again.

"Step down Eri." Final warning.

"Like hell I would." She declined, I was free to go.

In seconds I was before her, in a flash. She didn't have time to react at all. I did a high side kick, hitting underneath her jaw. Her head shot back by the force opening up her guard once more. I wheeled over to hand standing, clasping me feet around her head. I continued my move by spinning my body. It was a move that if done right could break their opponents neck. But this only threw her off guard, spinning her too around and falling. Me in turn landed on my feet. I stared down at the body in front of me. It was shaking trying to stand up. And I let it, it could only stand up because I let it.

Eri was standing up, barely. Her chin was swelling and started to form a purple bruise. I didn't recal punching her there. I can't seem to remember. She shook and opened her mouth. She was about to say something, but I wouldn't let her. I raised my leg high, axe kicking her. Her head was down in the ground again, this time with my foot on it.

"You're in no power of anything." I wasn't even sure if it was actually me who talked. I was just filled with rage. Filled with the hatred towards the person underneath my foot.

"You're below me, are you blind?." It seemed as my mouth had its own life. I was just saying what came to mind. Rage, came to my mind.

"Life isn't a pretty fairy tale. You have seen nothing worthy of my sympathy." I pressed my foot down, twisting it back and forth forcing the side of her face to press down to the floor. I bent down, letting my weight on my other legs knee. My head was in level of hers, letting her see my face.

"Don't. Shit. With. Me." I stared at her blankly. Her eyes were wide, terrified of what was in front of her. Tears slowly started to run down her face, following the lines over her nose and down to the floor. Her breath was starting to hiccup but she didn't break down into full out crying , she just continued to stare horrified at me. Se didn't move a muscle. She had become scared of me, which I didn't understand. I was only telling her my opinion, it's her own fault for not listening to me. I didn't understand why she was acting like that, if she didn't want this then she shouldn't have threatened me.

I didn't understand her actions.

I slowly rose up again. I lowered the pressure on my foot and stepped off her. Everything around me felt clear, so peaceful.

So quiet.

I smiled at the peaceful air. It was finely quiet, the itching was gone in my hands and I could finally breath. After a minute I started to turn around, looking over the destruction that we had made. The floor was cracked up and the chamber filled with food and wine were visible. Other than some knocked over furniture everything seemed fine.

After some more searching I came to the conclusion that Eri's little brothers wasn't here anymore. They might have gotten bored. In my opinion, the fight had seemed pretty intense, I wouldn't want to miss it if I was them.

Mom was probably waiting for us so I turned to Harumiko to tell her we should go, not making mom wait.

"But.. is Eri okay?" She asked, uncertain. She was biting her nails again, I would have to tell her off later.

"She's alright. She's probably just sad that she lost. I can take you here soon again if you want too. After all, you love to hear her voice right?" I continued, I put my hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. My adrenaline was starting to fade and my body began to feel heavy.

"Alright, I guess that's fine..." She continued, slowly forming her words as if she hesitating what to do.  
I was about to offer her to spar when we got home, but I realised that my body was too tired. And it would be bad if mom found out.

We slowly made our way to the main gate. I could hear sobbing behind us, but I ignored the sad sounds. At the big doorway, my mom was talking to miss and mr Sakkaku.

"Oh there you are. I was just about to go looking for you." My mom walked up to us and put her hands on each of our shoulders. She looked up the the Sakkaku pair and begun talking again.

"Were's Eri and her brothers? It would be to bad for them not seeing you off." It was miss Sakkaku who asked us.

"I'm terribly sorry, I don't know where the three brothers are and it seems as if I have offended Eri. I'm currently on her bad side and I don't think she would enjoy my company for the moment." I smiled a sad smile, it was too bad it turned out like this.

"Too bad, I will have to talk to the girl later. I don't know what she would find so offending, you have such a kind personality Aiko." It was now the man of the household. His longer hair tied in a ponytail swayed as he talked. My mom smiled approvingly of my words.

"Thank you so much for having us, it was truly enjoyable." She smiled at the hosts.

"No worries dear, the pleasure is all ours." Miss Sakkaku smiled at us. It was full of love and warmth. As we was about to leave I remembered something.

"Miss and Mr Sakkaku. I'm terribly sorry for your floor. In the bicker between me and Eri I failed to noticed that I cracked your marble floor in the east corridor." I bowed to show my respect. Maybe I had underestimated my words.

"Oh no, it's quite alright. Raise your head child there's nothing to feel bad about. A few cracks is nothing hard to repair." Mr Sakkaku chuckled. I sweat dropped at the big misunderstanding but left it as it was.

"I'm happy to hear that." I smiled and raised my head at them. I could literally feel Harumiko's face palm behind me. I laughed a little to ease her before turning around yet again to start our walk home. We said our farewells and was now on the road taking us home. Out of hear distance for mom Harumiko leaned in towards me and whispered.

"A few cracks huh?" She snickered waiting for my reaction. I only smiled defeated and slumped my shoulders.

"I'm so dead."

"The floor might not be the only thing that will get some cracks" my mother said "humorous" so the Sakkaku family would take it lightly but I knew what she really meant.

"Please spare me.." I whispered. While the adults was laughing.

~~~

I held up the door for Harumiko before stepping inside myself, closing the door behind me. The house was warm and welcoming and I sighed as I begun to walk towards the safety of my room. I needed to change out of the kimono. I didn't want mom to see the tearing I made in the fight with Eri. I didn't want her to find out about the fight at all. Closing the space between me and my room I begun to hope that I had made it. I quickly went in to my room and shut my door and made a sighed in relief.

I laid down on my bed looked at the kunai sword that was in the corner of my room.

"I've done goofed Big Sis.." I said disappointedly and let myself drown in my own thoughts.

"Oh shit what's up?!" I snapped back to reality thanks to a person busting in to my room without knocking. I looked towards the door where the person should be. I was shocked to see Omi standing there with a bright smile.

"Long time no see, Aiko!"

"What are you doing here?!" I didn't know how to feel about that they was in my village. Or in my room.

"My village set up so we young shinobi's get to have work experience for a while. So I choose to work here!" Omi explained. My mother also walked in to the room, she looked stressed because she had to change so quickly thanks to Omi's arrival.

"Aiko. Could you show them around? I was suppose to do it but something came up so can you cover me?" My mother said hurriedly and disappeared as fast as she appeared.

"I always have to do this.." I said annoyingly and Omi laughed.

"Not happy to see me?" They teased and I really wanted to jump out of the window at that moment.

"No. I'm just really tired-"

"Tired from what?" They asked immediate.

"I sparred with a friend a while ago. And it was pretty intense I guess" I explained and lead us out of the house.

"It's kind of you to still spare your time and energy to guide me around your village!" Omi thanked me as we took the stroll to the Yamakage estate. On the way, I showed them other interesting building like small museum, unique or popular shops, as well as restaurants.

"It's really impressive to fit all these building necessery to satisfy the people even though for having a small village" Omi praised but I explained to them that I had only shown them a quarter of the whole village.

"Really?"

"Yeah. The village is divided by four big areas, five if you want to count the Yamakage's estate"

"That's nifty! Are you going to show me the rest of the village?" They asked but I shook my head.

"I'm sorry but I'm really tired. Another time maybe?" I apologized.

I stopped my pace and sensed my sister, being nervous and scared. I didn't understand why she felt that way all of a sudden, she never had to be scared of anything. Everyone in the village was so kind to her.

"I'm sorry Omi but do you mind following me? I need to check something?"

"That's alright! I thought something was up" yeah my action was very obvious. I didn't want to waste any time so I lead us directly to Harumiko's destination. I pin pointed where she was before rushing to her. I had thought my sister was at home but she was apparently outside, at a slum. I could also sense three more people close to her, I immediately assumed that she was in danger. I fastened my pace, which Omi started to question why but I didn't answer them, I just kept walking, almost jogging.

We were almost at the alley were the slum is, but Harumiko just walked out of the alley and didn't looked harmed at all.

H-Harumiko! Are you o-okey?" I asked, stumbling on my own words.

"Yes, I'm okey. Why are you worried?" I was very confused how she looked so calm when she was supposedly be scared just a moment ago.

"Who are you?" My little sisters gaze turned to Omi.

"I'm Omi! You don't really look like that you're related!" they said nonchalantly. Harumiko frowned and she started to pout with her lips. It was a hint that she didn't take it happily.

"Omi!" I scolded them but they didn't really understand what they had done.

"Aiko is my sister!" She wrapped her arms around my waist and lifted me up like I was nothing.

"H-Harumiko!"

"Mine!" My little started to run off with me in her arms. Omi just laughed and started to chase us through the village.

"HARU!"

~~~

After a while, we successfully came home without having Omi tailing us. They disappeared somewhere when we ran past the Yamakage estate again.

We got inside quietly, with Harumiko on my back instead. We giggled under our breaths as I walked up the stairs and towards our rooms. Mom were nowhere to be seen, maybe she had gone to bed early tonight. Hopefully she had, she deserved some sleep after all her hard work.

"That was fun!" Harumiko whispered. A huge smile shined on her face and I couldn't help but to smile back.

"I admit it was pretty fun. But we have to apologise to Omi tomorrow." Even if I wanted to stay serious I couldn't help that my voice was filled with amusement from the chaise.

"You wish." She taunted, jumping off my back. I just gave her a mean look while smirking.

"Okay, okay. I'll apologise." She retreated lifting her hands up in the air as a sign of surrendering.

"Only if you buy me soda" she said, yawning before looking at me with an evil glint in her eye.

"That is, if you don't want mom to know about the secret ice cream you bought." She started to run down the hall before I could grab her.

"Hey! I did not!" She jus let out an evil laugh continuing her run. Chasing her, we slid around a turn, approaching my bedroom door. Just as she opened it I launched myself at her. In I fit of laughter we stumbled to the floor, rolling around with me on top of her.

"Give up!"

"Never!" We were so caught up in this game that we didn't notice the other presence in my room. Before any of us could react the person cleared their throat stating its presence.

"Mom." I wasn't expecting her here, but the look on her face told me not to ask.

"Girls." She nodded towards us.

"Harumiko, I need to speak with your sister. Would you be so kind and leave us alone." Harumiko nodded, knowing by the tone of our mother that it was no time for protest in any sort. She quickly leaved through the door, only me and mom left to talk. Something in the pit of my stomach began to knot itself, knowing from experience that my mom wasn't to happy about something. Forcing the unwanted feeling down I straightened up and looked my mother in the eye.

"How was your day Aiko, did Omi get a good first expression?" She said slowly, like she was staging it out. She had turned around and moved some of the decorations in my nigh table, slowly fixing it towards perfection.

"Yes. I gave her an almost complete tour of the village including relevant information about our society." I declared. My words were stiff and my answer sounded more like a mission report then the talk I usually had with my mother.

"Hmm, is that so." She continued. I just nodded even if she couldn't see. It was painfully quiet now. She wasn't saying anything even if I knew she certainly had something on her mind.

"Aiko..." she said. Sweet words forming from her mouth.

"It seems as your kimono has ripped, do you know how that may have occurred?" The sinking feeling I had just felt a moment ago returned with full power. She knew. That dam woman was just drawing this out, trying to set me off guard, nervous. And it worked.

I hated the pressure my mother gave out, the way it seemed as if she was in total control. Making me feel helpless, someone with no power whatsoever.

"It ripped while me and Eri argued. Sorry mother I shall be more careful of my clothing." I tried to shake it off with being as formal as I could. As of the fight was nothing big and it was the clothes that should've been worried about right now. But my mom was smart, she probably already knew what had happen.

Her head shot up as soon as I was finished with my reply.

"Do you know what you have done? The Sakkaku family is of highly importance to us and our village. Do you think you can do anything just because you're my daughter?!" Her words were harsh, snapping at me like the cold unforgiving wind winter brought us. I knew the best was to lay low, to let mom say what she wanted. Just nod your head.

"Do you think it was okay too attack their daughter? Oh for kamiko's sake Aiko what have you been thinking for the past weeks! You disobey the rules, ignore what I tell you and now you're starting fights? Fights!" Her voice was getting harsher by the second. Not necessarily louder, but that was maybe even more frightening. The words she said stung inside of me. I hadn't started the fight physically maybe but she had said some unforgettable things. If she didn't want a fight I don't know why she would've done it the first place.

"Is this any way to behave? You are the next heir! Are you prepared to take the responsibilities for your immaturity?" My body wanted to give out under me, but I kept standing. I was so weak. It wasn't even my fault. or maybe it was my mothers fault? It was only in situations like these I could question this. I would always try to forget, or not think of it. My mind always, change it. It was blurry. I just couldn't decide? My mom was a good woman.  
But I didn't like this.

And for the first time in a long while I did something else then just nodding.

"It wasn't my fault..." I tried, my voice was tinier then I expected it to be but I said something.

"Could you repeat that, Aiko?" Her voice was as unforgiving as before, but rage was bubbling under the surface. This was her giving me a chance to correct myself.

"It wasn't my fault, I didn't do anything wrong!" I cried out in a burst of courage. My mom's eye twitched but I continued.

"I'm not at fault, I didn't do anything wrong it was Eri! It's all Eri's fault!" It's all her fault, it's her fault my mom is angry, scolding me. I didn't do anything wrong, it's not my fault. It's not my fault I couldn't have done wrong. It was not my fault! I repeated that in my head until I felt a burning pain.

Burning.

My head was forded to snap right as a stinging feeling erupted on my cheek.

"It's always going to be your fault when your in charge." Her voice was cold. So unforgivingly cold.  
But her words were distance, too far if for me to reach.

"I thought you had grown up." She then disappeared, storming out to the door.

My mind couldn't comprehend.

Slowly I reached up to feel the swollen flesh. It was burningly hot and the blood underneath pulsated fast. Feeling, slowly around it I tried to think. It was probably red and irritating too.

My mom.

My mom had slapped me.

She had hit me.

My arm fell slap to my side yet again. Suddenly there was only air underneath my knees as my body slumped to the floor. On my knees, I stared straight forward. My mom hit me. She had slapped me on my cheek.

I was a disappointment.

Surely, something had been mistaken.  
Something must have been misunderstood? I hadn't been bad. I had trained so hard, I had never let my face show disagreeing in meetings. I had never disappointed her clients, I had always been so formal. I had been offered jonin on the exam test. I was the best. I had beaten Eri today too, and it didn't even count? I had been so good. I was the best.

But it wasn't enough.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Shiori

Me and Talia watched as Hitoshi was practicing his aim by using the "rock pistol jutsu" on some dummies.

I sat on a branch of a tree and was thinking about the day before. I was just getting high with Talia, Hitoshi and the others, and then suddenly, an overwhelming feeling hit me for a second. It felt like I got stabbed in the guts again, but it was different somehow.

"Did you guys see that?! I shot five rock bullets in a row and they all hit it!" Hitoshi shouted with confidence but neither I or Talia was too amazed.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool" Talia answered with no passion in her voice whatsoever.

"You guys are lame! It was impressive!"

"Whatever you say" while the two of them started to argue, I looked around in the training field. I ended up finding Katsuo training with an old guy. They also seemed to argue.

"I'll be right back guys" I said and sneaked to the training ground where Katsuo was. I hid inside a bush and watched the samurais training.

"In this pace you will never get a real blade to practice with!" The old man complained.

"Shut up! I learn this laidō technique in no time!"

"Then you have to be faster!" Katsuo tried once again, cutting with his wooden sword with a swift motion from his scabbard, and then back again. The old man examined the boys "blade" and got disappointed.

"There is still hay on you sword from the dummy! You're not doing it right!" The man yelled and smacked Katsuo in the head.

"Screw you uncle! I'm going to take a break" He ran towards the bush I hid in. I laid flat on the ground, hoping that he would jump over it. I was wrong and he stumbled upon me so he fell behind the bush.

"Ouch! What the hell?" I crawled out of the bush and greeted the samurai boy.

"It's you! Your freak!"

"Watch your mouth you dingus" I snapped and both of us got grabbed by the collar and lifted up. It was the old guy.

"Well well what do we have here!"

"Uncle Iwao! It's that murderous freak!" Iwao shook Katsuo violently so he got dizzy.

"Have some manners towards your seniors!" He scolded and dropped us both down.

"I recall that your name is Shiori? May I ask you a favor?" He was surprisingly polite.

"Hm?"

"Spare with Katsuo. I think he might practice the art of a samurai on a real person" He asked and I shrugged.

"Sure. I don't have any better things to do" I lied and we went back to the training field.

"On three! One, two.. three!" I withdrew my tantō sword and let it clash with his wooden samurai sword.

"May I ask you something?" I said while holding our stance.

"What?"

"Are you pretending to be an idiot for Aiko? Because that is not how she works" I asked and he looked at me confusedly. I knew how he had been acting in the village. Trying to be cool and popular to get Aiko. It was totally the wrong way to do it. It was pathetic, but I knew he could be better.

"Just shut up! You don't know what you're talking abou-" I took the opportunity to push away his sword while he was babbling. The wooden blade flew behind Katsuo and left him vulnerable. I kicked his chest so he fell and I pointed my blade at him, securing my victory. It went faster than expected.

"You're not sharp enough, Katsuo!" Iwao yelled and Katsuo got frustrated.

"Screw you all! I'm taking a break!" He grabbed his wooden sword and ran away. The old man sighed and then thanked me to participate in the practice.

"No problem. You should chase Katsuo before he does something stupid" I said and went back to my friends, which scolded me as fast as I came back.

"Where did you disappear?"

"You told us you were suppose to hang out with us today!" They both complained and I explained myself.

"Why are you stalking that boy? He is just an amateur. He is not even strong. He is a samurai!" Hitoshi stated and I agreed, because he was actually weaker than me. Which is very impressive.

"Yeah but he is stalking Aiko. And it worries me because-"

"I thought you didn't care about her" Talia interrupted and I stopped my tracks.

"I don't. But Katsuo is uncomfortable creepy and I heard from Aiko that she is annoyed by him" I lied, but I was very sure that Aiko didn't really like Katsuo. You could see it clearly if you know Aiko well.

"Yeah sure" Talia let me go and we walked out of the training area.

"You're following with us to the grill party, right?" Hitoshi asked and I didn't have any choice but to say yes. I had promised to hang out with them the three past days, because they didn't like that I had started to be with Yumi more. I was very surprised that both Talia and Hitoshi still wanted to hang out with me. I could understand Talia. We have been friends for a pretty long time and we were still in good terms with each other. Hitoshi however, we didn't get along every time. Sometimes we could get along and do some pranks on people, but sometimes we could get in to unnecessary arguments.

"And if havoc appears, then we can leave" Talia made a deal and I agreed to it a swell.

~~~

"Hi guys!" Etsuko greeted us and hugged Talia, only Talia.

"I'm happy you all could join the party! I'm just gonna go and help out with the grill" Etsuko left us to help making the food. The whole party was held at the backside of the orphanage.

"So Talia... when are you going to ask her out?" I said and she looked at me like I was weird.

"What are you talking about?" She said but I looked annoyed at her.

"Come on Talia! It's so obvious that you guys likes each other!" Hitoshi stated and it made Talia blush.

"Stop it! She is probably too busy to have a relationship anyways!" Talia tried to argue but both me and Hitoshi knew that she like Etsuko either way. It was too clear to hide.

"Like, what is the worst thing that could happen if you confessed?" He asked Talia and she started to think. We had found a table to sit on so we could wait all day for her to find as many argument as possible.

"I don't know.. that she thinks I'm weird? And stop being my friend or something?" She finally said and we started to laugh.

"That's not funny!"

"Sorry but Etsuko can't avoid you for a ryo! She likes you too much to be away from you!" Hitoshi said and she blushed even more.

"You guys are being annoying!" She scolded us but we kept laughing. After a while, they placed everything they had grilled on a big table with the essentials. They said that the food was finally served and everyone stormed to the big table and a long que was created. We were pretty fast so we were far up in the line.

"I'm so hungry! That training drained me real good!" Hitoshi said and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah. That's what happens when you waste your chakra like that"

"What did you say?!" He said and slapped me in the back head.

"Take it easy you two" Talia said with a harsh voice. All of us was starting to get hungry so we got pissed easily.

"You actually attended to the party? Traitor!" I looked at the direction were the voice came from. It was the same guys that attacked me and ended up burned.

I tried to ignore them but they ended up walking up to us.

"Leave us alone. We just want the food!" Talia complained but the guys argued poorly.

"We don't want to fight! We just wanted to greet our old friend!"

"I have no idea who you are" I stated and the boys didn't get happy.

"Oh you forgot us? Like always. We aren't important to you anymore, huh?!" They really tried to get closer but Talia and Hitoshi pushed the boy group back, they didn't want to give up however. It ended up that they pushed each other, which affected the others in the line and everyone started to get upset. It was a mess. I hated that the situation was caused by me, by just being in their "territory" I really didn't feel like home over there.

"HEY. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" It was Michi who shouted and everyone went quite. Michi was the only one that could "tame" the kids in the orphanage.

"People just started to push around!"

"That guy hit me!"

"Everyone started to act like idiots!"

"He made me spill my plate!" Everyone just spit out what pissed them off. Michi was stubborn to find out what started all of it. It didn't take long until people realized that me and my friends were involved.

"Yeah I think it started around them!"

"Yeah I heard them argue before!

"Yeah he was the one who started to push people!" Everyone started to blame me and my friends. It wasn't really fair.

"Are you guys still not over this? That one of us moved out? To start a new? Some people needs that and Shiori was one of them. We made a promise, remember?! No grudge!" Everyone was quite and either looked down the ground, or around themselves.

"It's okey. I admit. I started to push them around" Michi looked at me with a blank face. She knew I was lying.

"Look! She even says it herself!" Said one of the bullies in the boy group. They all started to yell at me, even throwing food at me.

"Guys stop! Behave!" The crowd over voices Michi so no one didn't really hear her.

"I'll be gone now" was the last thing I said before teleporting myself out of the orphanage backyard. I had teleported to my home, and someone was there, petting Chīsai.

"Sisi! Sisi is back!" The wolf cub got out of the persons arms and ran over to me. I crouched to catch my companion in my arms. I looked over to the other being and realized it was Yumi.

"Hi. Is something the matter?" I asked and she shook her head.

"I just wanted to check on you" I sighed and sat on my bed.

"You don't trust me?"

"No no no that's not it!" She panicked and I giggled.

"I'm just messing with you" and then it was her turn to sigh, but with a smile.

We sat here for a while, until my stomach started to make sounds.

"You're hungry? Weren't you at the grill party?" She asked and I shook my head.

"Things happened. So I left before I could eat" my belly kept doing noises.

"I don't have any food with me but... I wanted to ask, if you.. want to eat at my place?" I could see very clearly that she was nervous. Her hands was shaking, she took small pauses between words, she didn't really make any eye contact with me either.

"Sure. As long it is okay for your family" I answered and her expression lit up, but it quickly turned it in to a frown.

"Yeah, it's alright!" She said a bit hastily.

We made our way to her house. It was quite. We didn't really exchange any words with each other.

Whe arrived at her house and entered it, I was shocked to see how fancy everything looked like. It wasn't exaggerated fancy, but surprisingly fancy.

"Is everything alright Shiori?" I examined the house to see that they had many exotic flower and plants all over the house, as well as different shelves that contained either fine porcelain or beautiful glass figures.

"Your home.. is very different from the ones I have visited" I explained and she giggled.

"Yeah maybe it's a bit too much. But mother really loves to collect these glass figures. I've accidentally been caught in that habit too" she explained while I walked closer to a specific shelve that contained a little lesser glass figures. It was figures of animals like dogs, cats, dolphins and elefantes. I guessed it was Yumi's collections and she nodded.

"I haven't got so many as my mother. But maybe one day I catch up to her" she pointed at a small glass swan.

"That one is my favorite. I got from Fumiko when we were toge-" her voice went silent. She hid something that made me curious, but I knew it was non of my business.

"I apologize if I did something wro-"

"No no no! You didn't do anything out of the ordinary!" There she went with the small panic.

"I should start making the food" she walked to the kitchen so I followed her.

"You can sit on the table while I'm preparing" she put on a white apron that had her family's clan symbol. Their symbol is an eye with a tear under it.

I sat myself down on the dinner table and turned my head to the left to see Yumi who gathered the ingredients for the dinner.

"May I ask what happened at the grill party?" She asked while seasoning a salmon.

"Some douchebags tried to make a scene. They all blamed it on me so I left the place" I explained and she "ugh" in a pissed of manner.

"They really don't know when to grow up" she stated and put the salmon in the oven.

"You can always talk to me.. if something is bothering you" she offered and I smiled and said "I know".

Watching her making the food made me feel restless. I walked towards her and asked her if I could help.

"Y-yeah sure! You can fry the egg and beat it" I helped out with the food so I felt really that I deserved to eat with her.

We finally got to fried everything together after some moments later. We served for both me and Yumi. We sat on the opposite side of the table with our plates and started to eat.

"I know this is none of my business but.. those scars on your right side of your face. How did you get those?" She asked and my heart raised in a second.

"It was during a training with-"

"We already know that it is not true" she interrupted and I was caught.

"... I got abused by someone" I leaked and Yumi's eyes widened.

"Who would do such a thing?!" She even stood up on her chair.

"I can't tell! If I did then I would get in trouble. Not only me but you too" I tried to explain and she slowly sat back on her chair.

"Have you been abused like that for a long time?" I kept eating my fried rice instead of answering her.

"We just want to help you-"

"I can take care of myself!" I argued and Yumi jumped back with her chair a little. I had scared her.

"I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to yell at you" I put away the silverware and plate. I felt pretty bad for my action so I didn't have the appetite anymore. She ate up her food and then moved to a chair beside me.

"What are you-" she had taken a spoon with my food and shoved it in my mouth.

"Eat" she ordered and I had no other choice but start chewing the food. She fed me the rest of the food I had on my plate and I didn't really know how to feel about. It was like being a kid all over again.

"I can help you out with the dishes" I offered as we left the table.

"No it's alright. I take care of it later" she said and took our plates to the dishes.

"We can be in my room" Yumi said and lead me to her room. Her rooms style was different from the rest of the house. It was typical modern teenage room like everyone else had.

"I'm sorry for before" she apologized and I said it was okey.

"Let's.. talk about something else?" She stated and I raised my eyebrows.

"Like what?"

"Like how it is to have Omi over here in our village?"

"Are they here?! I didn't know!" I was shocked and the conversation kept going. We talked about anything possible. It never became an awkward silence, we just kept talking with each other like it was nothing else in the world.

"Yumi! We're home- oh hi!" It was her mother who had opened the door. She looked happy but a bit stressed.

"Yumi? Are you there!" I heard a manly voice shout and the mother quickly went out again. I felt that both Yumi and her mother got suddenly nervous.

"Yumi is having a new friend over s-so please be gentle!" I could hear the mother speak and heavy foot steps getting closer to the room.

"Who is this new friend? Let me say hi-" I tall and broad shouldered man entered the room with a smile but it quickly disappeared as he saw me.

"Why are you in my house? Why are you with my daughter?" I knew immediately that I wasn't welcomed by him.

"I'm hanging out with Yumi-"

"My daughter doesn't waste time on a monster like you!" He said and approached me.

"Dad, please!"

"Listen to me you little brat" the man had grabbed my collar and pulled me closer to his face.

"My beautiful daughter shouldn't be with someone like you. You get it?"

"No" I honesty replied and he looked at me like I was stupid.

"What?"

"I do not understand why I'm not allowed to spend time with a friend" I explained and he looked mad at me.

"A maniac like you is not welcomed to my family!" He slapped my face and dragged me to the exit.

"Dad no! Stop it!" The father stopped and faced his daughter with a cold glare.

"I've told you several times to not be near this girl!" He shouted and finally threw me out of the house.

"Don't you dare come here again!" He yelled and closed the door. I stood there for a moment, trying to sense Yumi. She was sad, very sad. She was probably crying, but I couldn't do anything. I accepted my defeat and headed home.

Before I could even reach the area where my home was located, I was stoped by a running bald kid.

"Shiori!" Shouted Isamu as he approached me.

"You have to see my progress!" He begged, but I wasn't in the mood. I just walked past the boy, trying to get home but it wasn't that easy.

"Hey! Listen to me! This is really important!" He yelled as he tried to block my path by standing in front of me. I looked right in to his eyes and he noticed that something wasn't right.

"Is it.. because of what happened at the grill party?" He asked and I said it was partly the reason.

"Something more serious happened after that?" He asked and I nodded. I didn't want to get in to details.

"It will go fast! I won't waste so much time!" Isamu grabbed my arm and started to focus. In a matter of seconds, we were in the training grounds. I recalled that the kid couldn't teleport far at all, he could only teleport from one side of a training field to the other side of it. His chakra control wasn't that good then so he couldn't teleport like I did, or Kamiko.

"See? I teleported us all the way here! I told you it would be fast!" He bragged and I was happy for him, I couldn't really show it however.

"Next time, try to teleport from the training grounds and to the Yamakage estate" I said and turned around to crash in to another being.

"Hi there" said the tall figure and I looked up to see Nobuo, Fumiko's older brother.

"Shouldn't you be home and take care of your family?" I stated and he shrugged.

"They can handle it" Nobuo said with a smile.

"Who is that?" Said Isamu and pointed at my tall friend.

"His name is Nobuo. He is my friend" I shortly explained and the little boy nodded. Nobuo was a pretty bad shinobi like me, but he wasn't bullied. He was pretty neutral in this society, he could hang out with the popular kids, as well with the trash people like me.

"Are you new here?" Nobuo asked the small boy and he nodded.

"I have been here two weeks" Isamu explained and Nobuo said "welcome to our village". Nobuo was a bit of a social bug, he likes to have conversation with people.

"Are you going to practice? Or maybe you're already done?"

"Were already done" I said and tried to teleport but Nobuo grabbed my shoulder so I lost my focus.

"Lets walk home instead?" He offered and I sighed.

"Sure.. you can go alone bucko?" I asked Isamu and he said yes and teleported away. It indicated that the kid could teleport even further. I thought that I had to give him credits for his progress next time I met the little lad.

"So, how is everything going?" Nobuo asked as we started to walk.

"Fine I guess. Just tired as usual" I didn't tell the whole truth about how I felt, but he is a smart guy so he knew that I was hiding something.

"And how's it with Yumi? Are you guys getting along?"

"Yeah but not with her dad"

"... What?" He was lost. I said things without context.

"I was at Yumi's place. Her father came after a while and threw me out of the house"

"What did you do?" He asked and I shrugged.

"Have no idea. We just talked with each other like every other person does. I guess it has something to do with my past" I explained and he sighed.

"I don't get it, why won't people realize that you have changed?"

"Well.. not really" he raised his eye brow.

"I tried to kill Aiko not long ago"

"But you went berserk" he argued, but I said that it didn't really matter if I had lost control of my mind or not.

"There is a difference between your KEKKEI GENKAI, and YOU as a person"

He explained and I didn't know how to argue against it because I agreed with what he had said. I just hadn't realized it earlier until that moment. I thanked him and he patted my shoulder.

"You will see, one day the villagers will accept and support you" he said and I chuckled, because I thought it was unbelievable.

"Subject S" I heard a voice from behind. Both me and Nobuo turned around to face the stranger, it was doctor Atsushi.

"Right now?" I asked annoyingly, wondering if I ever would get home to rest. He nodded at my unserious question.

"We are wasting time" I had no choice but to say goodbye to my friend and teleported to the lab with the doctor.

"You haven't taken the pills for the third week now" the doctor stated and I rolled my eyes.

"Because it makes me feel like I'm suffering, for the 50 time!" I retorted and he punched me in the face.

"You know the consequence..." Doctor Atsushi grabbed me by the collar so my shirt was lifting up a bit.

"Its about time" the doctor put his palm on my stomach.

"Fire style: heavenly prison!" A seal was covering me body and I started to feel heavy and warm.

"What the hell?!" He dropped me and just stood there.

"Try to teleport" he ordered and I was confused.

"... alright" I started to focus but realized soon that I couldn't teleport.

"What?" I tried once again, focusing even more that time and I teleported behind the doctors back. I wanted revenge for that strange seal, so I planned to use "chidori" on him. But before I could make a move, I was covered in flames.

"Aaaaaaahhh!" I fell down to the floor and started to roll around, hoping to extinguish the fire. I was splashed with a jet of water from the doctor who put down the fire.

"The "heavenly prison" is a jutsu specified to be used for prisoners. I used it on you now as punishment. This formula that's on your body makes you unable to mould chakra, thus making you unable to use jutsu as well. You seem to be able to use one jutsu before the formula detect too much chakra is utilized. When too much chakra is forced out, you set yourself ablaze" he explained while I was still on the ground, trying to catch my breath. It still felt like I was burning inside.

"You seem to be able to use one jutsu before you set on fire. My hypothesis is that your jutsu is sometimes mixed with senjutsu because of your passive absorption of it" I was mad. I hated the pain he has caused me, and not only that but also made me weak.

"Why.. I'm already weak! Why are you making me weaker than I already am!" I yelled and tried to stand up.

"Also. If you try to escape the village, then you will be set ablaze too" he informed and ignored my question.

"You are allowed to return to your home. And don't forget the pills" he said and disappears in to the many halls of the lab. I knew there was no idea in teleporting out of the place so I tried to collect myself as best as I could, and stood up to walk away from the lab. Upon exiting the lab and the Yamakage estate, I realized it has turned a bit darker. Night was soon to arrive. I slowly but steadily made my way back to my home, but the closer I got to my place, the better I could sense Aiko and she wasn't happy at all. Her chakra wasn't lively as usual, it was dull.

I couldn't ignore her so I followed her chakra and ended up finding her sitting alone on a bench near a park. I sensed that no one was close by so I sat down with her without a word. We both had probably noticed that the other one was un normally exhausted. We sat there quietly, not minding each other's presence. We let each other exist and breath for a moment.

Usually in moments like this, I would start a yap or something, but not that time. That time, I enjoyed staying in silence with Aiko.

"Your chakra seems disturb" she finally broke the silence.

"It's always disturbed" I retorted and she chuckled.

"You know what I mean" she continued but I didn't respond.

"You're tired, just like me. I argued with my mom... what is your reason?" I hesitated answering her until I realized that nobody was around anyways so I ended up talking to her.

"I got kicked out twice this day, by doing absolutely nothing"

"That's bullshit"

"I know" I said and changed the subject back to her mother situation.

"Aiko. You know how I never had a mother?"

"Mm..?"

"You are blessed to have your mother around. Spend time with her while you can. You never know what happens in the future" I said and it took a moment before she replied.

"Thank you" we fell back to the peaceful silence. It is not often we sat like that and exchanged words about our life. It might even have been a rare occasion.


	14. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13 Aiko "Time Travel" Part 1  
**_  
We finished a big lecture about how important it is to really know your capabilities so you can become strong and yada yada. They also talked about how you can effectively combine different powers to get an incredible team work.

My mother and many of the Jōnin had held the lecture for us to be educated. Doctor Atsushi was there as well, he talked about the importance of being healthy.

The adults decided that we should have a break before having a tag team battle tournament. It was just for fun. There was no prize or anything for the winning team.

I was hanging out with Shiori and Hisashi. We were discussing how our tactics should be.

"Alright if we keep being in the back while Shiori attacks them head on with taijutsu then the enemy team won't have time to analyze us because they will be busy handling Shiori" Hisashi was a clever guy, he is the one that came up with basic strategy that we could develop depending on the situations. I usually proceeded the tactics to more advance. Shiori always questioned our strategies, making us think twice and have back up plans.

Shiori started to get restless so she started to wonder around in the building. Me and Hisashi decided to follow her because it was safe to go as a group. We didn't want an outbreak in the Yamakage building. It didn't take too long until Katsuo wanted to join our little walk.

"Aiko! Are you hanging out with that freak again?" He questioned and I rolled my eyes.

"Well, she is my teammate and friend after all" I replied and walked closer to Shiori and away from Katsuo.

"Aiko!" Omi had also been in the lecture with the rest of us youths. I didn't really want them to be close to Shiori because of the risk of a fight.

"Oh Hi Shiori! Long time no see. Who are these guys?" They pointed at Hisashi and Katsuo so I explained that they were my teammate at and bodyguard, respectively.

"I'm the cool one" said Hisashi and I knew it was a pun to his kekkei genkai. I thought it was a really bad joke so I face palmed myself.

"Yeah right..."

"I'm way cooler than that guy!" Katsuo said and tried to steal the spotlight.

It ended up that the boys started to argue who was the coolest, it was in a joking manner so more people surrounded us to listen to the conversation.

"I'm a samurai who has high skill on swords technique!"

"Well I use ice kekkei genkai so I'm naturally cool" everyone was having a blast when they had their joke fight.

I realized that Shiori's chakra was slowly moving away from the crowd. I decided to follow her and Omi was also tailing me.

"Where are we going?" They asked and I said that I would follow my friend.

"Why following Shiori? Didn't you like having fun with the others?" They questioned.

"Yeah but I don't like leaving her alone" I explained and they nodded with a smile. I didn't understand their fascination about me and Shiori. We were like every other friends was. Maybe a bit more complicated but friends none the less.

We stumble upon Eri on the way and she stopped our tracks.

"What is it? I don't have time for thi-"

"Please hear me out" Eri pleaded and I sighed.

"I want to say sorry. About last week when I said all of those things. It was immature of me" she didn't look away or anything, she kept her sight on me, convincing me that she actually meant what she said.

"I forgive you, but think before you decide to take action" I said to her and kept walking towards the way where Shiori left.

After taking a turn to the right, we saw Shiori trying to unlock a door with some hair pins.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I had already been in trouble with my mother and I didn't want it to happen again because of one of my friends were sneaking in the Yamakage building.

"Unlocking a door? I have a quest to look what's inside this particular door" she explained and I started to wonder who would give her such a quest.

"Are those your pins? You don't look like the kind of person who wear those" questioned Omi and I was disappointed that it was the only thing they was thinking about.

"It's from a friend. She let me borrow it" Shiori answered and unlocked the door.

"Bingo" she said and sneaked in to the room.

"Shiori no!" I ran after her in to the room. Upon entering the room, I felt a sudden heavy atmosphere. It was dark and quite, I could locate where Shiori was however.

I followed the senses of her chakra and found Shiori examine an orb.

"What is that?" Omi asked and Shiori shrugged.

"Have no idea. But it's seems useless" she said and kept looking through the room which was filled with all kind of junk that didn't look important at all. I looked at the orb and felt a strange feeling, like that I was drawn to it. I walked up to the object to examine it but then, a sudden loud sound came from the direction where the entrance were.

"Hm? Oh look! It's those boys again!" Omi said and pointed at Katsuo and Hisashi that had accidentally fell on the floor.

"Hi Aiko" Hisashi said and stood up to shrug off some dirt.

"Did you guys follow us?" I asked.

"Yeah! You just disappeared from all the fun!" He said and I didn't really care what he said.

"What is that in front you?"

"I do not know. It's just an orb Shiori found" I touch the orb and a sudden bright light emitted from the object.

"What the hell?!" Shiori had came back and saw the shining orb.

"What did you do?!"

"I don't know! I just touched it and then-" the orb sucked us in to it and suddenly, we appeared in the middle of the sky.

"How the fuck did we get here?!" Hisashi yelled while everybody screamed in panic, except for Omi.

"Let me try something!" She said and made the seals for boar, dog, bird, monkey and ram, trying to make the summoning jutsu but nothing happened.

"What? Why won't it work!" Omi said and Katsuo started to bite on his nails.

"Shiori!"

"On it" Shiori took my arm, I assumed that she wanted to teleport but it was to no avail either.

"I can't teleport either?!" She said, but didn't let go of my if my arm.

"Let me try!" Hisashi made a hand seal and snow started to appear, trying to turn into a bird like creature but it disperse pretty quickly in to the air as we fell.

"I-I can't concentrate properly!"

It made me feel useless how my friends did everything in their desperation to protect me, they didn't think about them self at all.

"WE'RE DOOMED" Katsuo screamed as the end of the fall was growing closer and closer.

~~~

I was unconscious for a good while, at least that was it felt like. I woke up to see that I was bounded to a big log. I looked around and saw a big crowd of people in front of me with torches and hayforks. In front of the whole crowd stood a tall woman with the Yamakage attire. I recognized the woman as my grandma, as I've seen her in old photos before. My brain started to overwork itself as I couldn't believe what I was seeing, my own grandma being alive. Assuming off the circumstances, we must have ended up in our own village in the past.

"You're finally awake Aiko! Tell these bastards that we're good people!" I looked at the right side and saw Katsuo having a panic attack while also being bounded to a big log, all of my friends had been captured in fact.

"W-why are we being hostage? We haven't done anything that have upset you?" I tried to be as formal as possible so they thought that we weren't uncivilized.

"You crashed in to one of the sacred places in our village. You can't go without punishment!" I got a feeling of déjà vu as I heard my grandma say those words. I also realized that the sacred place was probably the library, again.

"We are really sorry for accidentally destroyed something but we appeared in the middle of the sky and couldn't really do anything for the fall!" I tried to explain but the villagers looked even more angrier.

"Just kill them already mother!" A voice came from behind the Yamakage.

"They're creepy! Especially the blond one!" Three girls came forwards so they were visible. The tallest girl had long black hair, the one in the middle had short brown hair, you could mistaken her for a boy, and the last one who was probably my height, had short blond hair, just like me.

"Akemi?" Shiori said and the younger version of my mother took a step back.

"H-how do you know my name? You freak!" She pointed at Shiori and grandma put her arm down.

"M-mother!" I accidentally yelled and Hisashi told me to be quite.

"Breath Aiko!"

"I CAN'T, IT'S MY MOTHER FOR HEAVENS SAKE!" I had the panic attack this time which made nothing any better.

"Mother? What the heck is she talking about?" Said the tallest girl which I recognized as my oldest aunt, Sakiko.

Mother had told me she had moved away from the village to make their own settlement. Many of the other from our clan followed her, leaving only grandma and mother left in the village. Aunt Tomoko left the village to protect the Himitsu Meadow.

"I don't know but she is creeping me out!" My mother nagged and Hisashi and Katsuo started to laugh.

"Hm she does look like Akemi" The old Yamakage said and examined me.

"Take the blond girl to the hospital. I want blood samples and D. N. A tests from them.

Kill the others." two medic-ninjas untied me while still holding me hostage.

"What?! I let you take the tests on me! Just leave them alone!" I yelled but my grandma didn't even glance at me.

"No witness is allowed!" I felt Shiori becoming more and more stressed and her intake of natural chakra was increasing. Four Anbu ninjas walked closer to my friends, withdrawing their weapons to finish them off.

"No no no! Don't make her stressed-" Shiori started to roar with rage.

"D-don't touch her!" She ripped apart the ropes and the weird grey skin color had spread to her arms and the left side of her upper body. Blades was formed on her arms and she immediately launched herself at one of the anbus and went toe to toe with them. You could see clearly on the anbus movement how unprepared he was for Shiori's sudden strength.

"Lord Yamakage-sama!" The Anbu shouted and my grandma rushed to the shinobis rescue and used the "fist rock" jutsu to grab Shiori so she wouldn't move. The Yamakage only needed to use one hand seal to make a huge "fist rock" technique, she was very skilled.

"This kekkei genkai... it is not safe to have her here!" My grandma said and struggled to keep my friend in place, as Shiori flailed to get out.

"This one is done for it" magma was emerging from the rock fist and I could see clearly that Shiori was hurt.

"Shiori!" I shouted as my best friend roared in pain. I tried to escape myself but the Anbu was holding me tight.

"Mom stop!" Shouted the small girl that was my mother. The magma from my grandma's fist dispersed and it became an ordinary "fist rock".

"Why are you stopping me?"

"T-they clearly are friends! So.. don't hurt her. You didn't hurt Shizuka after all. And they have some things in common" my mother explained while Shiori's blades and discoloring faded away.

"So you mean that they're connected?"

"Maybe" grandma let her go and examined my friend.

"Alright, I have decided. You're allowed to go "free" but you will have my daughter Akemi to keep an eye on you" My grandma decided and a few Jōnins walked forward to let go of the rest of my friends.

"You will still follow us to the Yamakage building" my grandma and the anbus separated me from my friends as we made our way to the Yamakage estate.

"You better not hurt her!"

"I can't promise anything" grandma replied without giving Katsuo a glance.

"Aiko! Aiko!" I heard Katsuo yell in the distance.

~~~

The sample tests wasn't so bad as thought.

"See, easy" my grandma said and I stood up from the patient chair.

"I will lead you back to your friends" she said as we walked out from the hospital.

"May I ask, what is that girl to you?" I understood that she meant Shiori.

"She is my older sister" I said proudly as she looked confusedly at me.

"You don't look like anything like her?" She asked further and I giggled.

"We are sisters by bond" I said and her frown disappeared from her face.

"I see" the Yamakage lead me to a small park where my friends was and my mother was sitting down on the plain grass and talked. I sat with the group and they all greeted me.

"Are you okey Aiko?!" Katsuo sounded really worried.

"Yeah. It was like an ordinary check up in the hospital" I explained.

"You will stay here in the village for now. Until we have figured out where you come from" said my Grandma and walked back to the Yamakage estate.

"I realized I haven't asked your names. We start with you!" My mother pointed at Shiori.

"I'm Shiori"

"Omi!"

"My name is Hisashi"

"Katsuo"

"And I'm Aiko" mother also said her own name, even though all of us had already figured it out.

"Can you explain again how you ended up here?" Everyone started to explain so we talked against each other a bit. My mother seemed to hear everyone, which is pretty impressive to focus on so many people at the same time.

"Alright, alright. So... you guys found an orb, and then you Aiko touched the orb and then you all got warped in to it and suddenly, you appeared in the sky?" We all nodded at the same time and mother frowned but just nodded with us.

"Okey... and then you crashed in to our famous library..." we all nodded once again, but slowly.

"We apologize for the disaster" Shiori said and my mother shook her head.

"You don't have to apologize anymore. I'm sure the construction-nin's are already working on to repair the place" she explained and I sighed in relief.

"Akemi! Akemiiii!" A guy from the distance was running towards us. He was pretty short, probably short as Shiori, maybe a bit taller than her. He also had black hair but he had green dull eyes. He also wore a green scarf that was too big for him.

"Hi Masanori!" The boy paced slowed down until he came to a stop.

"Who are these guys?" The boy asked and turned around to see us all. As he turned, you could see he had a small scabbard. The small scabbard was very familiar to Shiori's.

I had read in our library how my clans dōjutsu could see the chakra flow of a person, as well as their D. N. A structure. I had secretly training my Gōrudegan so I could use it more frequently without straining myself too much.

I activated my dōjutsu when everyone was focusing on something else. I analyzed Masanori's D. N. A and noticed it was very familiar to Shiori's. Piecing together the similarities between them, I assumed that he was Shiori's father.

"Ah yeah I think I heard something"

"you're so oblivious Masanori..." my mother teased as I still tried to comprehend that my mother and Shiori's father was friends.

"Sorry if I was too busy training!" He retorted as I got curious about their abilities.

"You know it doesn't matter how much you train! I'm always stronger than you. Now, can't you guys talk about yourself? I want to know more where you came from" Mother tried to change the subject but I wouldn't let her.

"Can't we watch you spar with each other?" I asked in excitement.

"It is not going to be an interesting battle, but sure" Mother said and rolled her eyes.

"I said that I have been training so you won't defeat me that easily!" Masanori said with confidence. His attitude wasn't matching up with Shiori's. Her father strived to become better, something that I haven't seen in Shiori.

"Let's go to the training fields!"

"But that is far away!" Mother said and Masanori rolled his eyes.

"But we can't fight in the park! It will cause trouble for more people than just the two of us!" He convinced and mother finally agreed to follow. As we walked through the village, I noticed they didn't have as many training fields as we had. When we arrived, Masanori already started to get ready for the battle.

"Give me a moment! Stretching is important, remember?" Mother said and stretched her limbs.

"Y-yeah right!" I remembered how strict the Jōnin teacher was about stretching before a spar or a training in general. After the stretching session, the positioned them self on the training field. We sat on the side to watch them.

"Ready. Set. Go!" Omi said and the battle started.

Mother was fast and threw shurikens at Masanori. He countered it by using his blade. I realized as he withdrew his weapon, that it was the same sword as Shiori. It confirmed my theory even further.

"Shiori.."

"I'm not stupid" she said, as it meant that she had also already figured out what Masanori was to her.

"What are you guys talking about?" Katsuo asked,not knowing what was going on.

"We think that Masanori might be Shiori's father, well when he was alive" Explained Hisashi.

"But what happened to your pa-" I hit Katsuo's head so he couldn't finish his sentence.

"Some things shouldn't be answered" we returned to watch the fight.

Mother was in an advantage. She could go par on par with Masanori with his tantō blade, while just using a kunai herself. She did a quick low sweep so the boy fell to the ground.

"See. You are no match for me" mother was walking out from the field, but Masanori stood back up and clenched on his blade.

"I'm not done yet!" He grabbed his sword tightly with both of his hands, as chakra started to emit from the blade.

"What the-" the chakra was getting stronger and stronger until he mixed his chakra nature to it, or his kekkei genkai rather.

Plasma started surround the blade instead, it was emitting its nature immensely, making everyone shocked that the little guy could unleash so much power. A rush of excitement filled my body. I got the determination to be able to use a cool looking jutsu like Masanori did.

"Plasma style: plasma slash!" The chakra became even bigger and he slashed downwards, making an explosion upon colliding on my mother.

"Mom!" I shouted but it was just silence, and the sound of the plasma swords energy surging through the blade. There was dust covering the field after the clash.

When the dust cleared out, you could see that my mother had used the "fist rock" jutsu to protect herself. The blade had only penetrated a little bit of the rock. I didn't know if my mother was so strong so she could endure the attack, or if it was Masanori who was too weak to be able the penetrate through the rock completely.

"I said. It. Is. Not. Enough!" She pushed the sword upward with a breath force that made Masanori lose his grip on his blade. The plasma around the sword disappeared upon him letting the sword fly upwards from the force.

Mother took the opportunity to smash the ground, making a small earthquake so Masanori lost his balance and he fell on the ground. As the little earthquake stopped, the sword that had flipped in the air, came back landed right beside Masanori's face.

"That's was a cool surprise. But you have to do more effort to defeat me" The fight was really over that time. Mother helped her friend up and they praised each others efforts.

"That was really cool!" I was still bubbling with excitement. The battle had inspired me to train more.

"Really? I ended the battle in less than five minutes" mother shrugged it off but most of us was satisfied with the fight.

"Let's talk about you guys now!" Mother was very curious about us. Well, if I had seen people falling from the sky and crash in to my village sacred library, then I probably would have been curious.

"I don't think that having a conversation here is suitable" said Hisashi and we all agreed.

"Do you want to go for some ice cream?"

"Ice cream?" My heart skipped a beat when I heard the word "ice cream" I hadn't ate it for years.

"No no no no. No ice cream for this girl" Hisashi grabbed my arms.

"Fuck you Hisashi! Just let me eat it this one time!"

"Yeah you can keep dreaming about that" Shiori commented and I felt betrayed.

"Not you too!"

"What the heck is wrong with ice cream?" Omi asked, not knowing the consequences of me getting ice cream.

"It's not the ice cream. It's Aiko"

"I've done nothing wrong!"

"Say that to my family's old destroyed sofa"

"That was one time!" I was struggling through Hisashi's grip.

"She destroyed your sofa when she ate ice cream...?" Katsuo questioned and my teammate nodded.

"She becomes a monster when she has eaten ice cream. So for the sake of the time line, don't give her the fucking ice cream!"

"Time line?" Mother asked so I started to over exaggerate to distract her from that thought.

"THIS IS MY ONLY CHANCE TO EAT ICE CREAM. PLEASE JUST LET ME EAT IT THIS TIME" I begged and held harder on my arms and tried to pull me down.

"I'M GOING TO GET MY ICE CREAM WHENEVER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT" Shiori held my body still and pulled me down to, making it feel heavier.

"I'm sorry Aiko but this is for your own good!" Katsuo grabbed my other arm and also pulled me down, so my legs started to give in.

"I have a feeling it won't end good if we give you ice cream" Omi just used her hand to push me down by pushing on my head. It became hard enough to me to remain balance so I fell to my knees as my friends was holding me down. Of all the weight that my friends did, Omi was the main source that made it really hard for me to resist. They were really strong for their appearance, as they were pretty small.

"THIS IS NOT FAIR!" I yelled and they held me even harder.

"I think you're going overboard with this.." Masanori commented.

"You have no idea the chaos she have done by eating ice cream" Hisashi stated, or warned.

"Lets give her a little bit? If things gets out of hand then we take away the ice cream. Does that sound good?" Mother offered and I said yes immediately.

"Yes! Sounds like a great deal!" I said but Shiori covered my mouth.

"Rather not"

"Just a tiny bit?" Mother argued but my friend didn't say anything for a short moment.

"Just a little. But we will still hold her in place while she taste it" Hisashi decided and Shiori freaked out.

"Dude really?! Do you even remember last time? She almost broke Takayuki's ribs!" Shiori complained. Hisashi boyfriend had tried to stop me but it ended up that I tackled him very hard. It was the last straw so mother banned me from eating ice cream.

"So much trouble for ice cream? Oh well. I stop her if anything happens" Omi reassured and it made me a bit worried. They were ridiculously strong after all.

Shiori sighed in defeat and let my mother go and get som ice cream for all of us.

"I swear to heaven Aiko, if you mess this up then it's not just us that will be screwed!" Shiori warned but I was too happy to care. I would soon taste the best thing in the entire world

It took a good while before she came back, but when she did, she also had someone with her. It was a boy who was a bit taller than mother. He had dark brown.

"Dad..?" I said quietly, feeling paralyzed by the sight of my own father.

"Hi! I brought my friend Tanaka. He helped me out to get the ice cream and everything else" mother explained as they set everything with blanked to sit on, bowls and spoons for everyone.

"Why is she being stuck by her friends?" Father asked and Mother got a bit nervous.

"Y-yeah they say something bad would happen if we gave her ice cream, b-but I wanted to give her a chance anyways!" You could see clearly that Mother had a crush on my Father Tanaka. It was adorable to see my Mother being so bubbly around him.

"Yeah we got the ice cream!" Tanaka said, I think. My body was stiff and afterwards I hoped they didn't notice. My father was there, in front of me.

"Aiko?" My focus switched to the box with ice cream that Father held and then back to Hisashi's confused face.

"ICE CREAM!" I screamed outright and my father flinched slightly.

"Uhh..." my father backed away but I forced myself forward to him, even with all of the people hovering me.

"She is going wild!" Shiori warned as I tried to shake them off.

"I don't know if I can hold her any longer!"

"Alright she is stronger than I thought!" Omi said and they let go off my head, so I was free. I push myself up to stand up and the rest of my friends let go off me too, thanks to the sudden force I emitted.

"Ah shit" I rushed towards my Father, snatched the ice cream and accidentally tackled him so he fell to the ground. I also snatched a spoon from mother and made space so I could sit down and eat the ice cream.

"What the hell?! What kind of weirdos are you hanging out with?" I could hear Father yell while I was gobbling up all the ice cream.

"S-She wasn't like this a moment ago!" Mother tried to explain but I could hear how Fathers steps sound more distant.

"She is scary! I'm outta here" I didn't realize the event that had occur when I got the ice cream. My friends had to come up to me and scold me about it.

"Aiko! Do you know what the fuck you have done?!" Shiori yelled while I kept eating the ice cream.

"No?" My mouth was stuffed.

"You just made your dad dislike your mom" Hisashi said and I still didn't understand the problem.

"This means you might not be born in the later future!" Shiori said and I stopped eating.

"Wait what..?" It felt like that my sugar rush had dropped in a second.

"You have fucked up really good this time" Hisashi commented. My mind was spinning, trying to find a salvation for the situation but I just got myself dizzy.

"We have to fix this before we return to our timeline"

"Not that we even know how to get back in the first place..." Katsuo retorted while I was curling up to a ball, feeling ashamed that I had let myself lose control over ice cream again. You could also hear my mother whining in the background.

"Well what are we going to do now?" Asked Omi and I let my panic attack let lose too.

"WHAT THE HELL I'M MOT GOING TO BE BORN?! WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSE TO FIX THIS?! I ALSO WANT TO EXIST" I screamed at the top of my lungs and the villagers probably wanted to throw us out.

"What do you mean what you will do?! You just made a fool out of me in front of my crush!" Mother yelled and grabbed my choker so I looked in to her eyes.

"Well you don't understand! This consequences means that I might not even exist anymore!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" I realized that she didn't know about the future events.

"Never mind" I pushed mother off me and she let me go.

grandma appeared out of no where and grabbed both me and my mother by the collar.

"The villagers tells me that you're annoying them by being loud. What is going on?" Grandmas voice was harsh and stern. She was clearly not happy with our behaviors.

"I-I'm sorry Mother! But the "guests" made a fool out of me!" Mother explained, trying to be polite as possible. I felt that there was no idea in telling them the real situation so I just went with the flow.

"Is this true Aiko?"

"Yeah..." I replied lazily and grandma started to lecture me and mother in front of our friends. She let us go after scolding us.

"Your mom is pretty strict?" Katsuo asked my Mother and she nodded.

"Yeah. She really cares about the village. She sometimes priorities the others than her own kids" she explained.

"I have to show you we're you're going to sleep. You can do a little bit of whatever you want after that" Mothers voiced had changed. It wasn't this curious high-pitched tone. It was a bit deeper, a more seriousness in her voice.

"Come on. It's not so far" we all noticed that the atmosphere had changed.

"You can follow us Masanori if you want" We didn't say anything, we just followed her lead.

She lead us to a motel that we could stay in. She checked in for us and she showed us our room.

"Hisashi and Katsuo shares a room. Aiko and Shiori also shares a room. And Omi... you get your own room"

"Nice!" Mother walked with Omi to their room while the rest of us waited to be lead to our rooms.

"Guys. What have I done?"

"You want us to repeat your mistake?" Hisashi answered and I felt how a lump of regret just fell down my throats and down to my stomach.

"Well we can't leave until the relationship between Tanaka and Akemi turns to normal" stated Shiori and we all agreed.

"Alright but what are we suppose to do? Hook them up?"

"Obviously" the boys started to plan how we should fix everything. I was too stressed. I thought too much about what was the consequences of the change of the timeline.

"Hisashi and Katsuo" they boys followed mother as it became only me and Shiori left.

"Your breath is unstable. What is wrong?" Shiori pointed out and I flinched for a second.

"What do you mean? I'm fine, just a bit tired" I lied and Shiori kept looking at me suspiciously. She already knew what was going on, but I wasn't in the mood to explain everything to her yet.

Mother came back but didn't really make any eye contact with me. She interacted more with my big sis.

"You two get this room over here" she lead us to a two bed room that was pretty small but was big enough to have a table with two chairs, a sofa and of course the two beds.

"Okey this is what you get. There are bathroom outside where the halls are and-"

"Alright, cool. I'm going over to Omi" Shiori said and closed the door as she left the room, with just me and my mother. We just stood there for a while. Mother looked outside through the small window the room had. Her face was dull, barely any expression at all. I recognize that face very well. She was in deep thought.

"Your black haired friend, reminds me of my best friend. And you resembles me a lot too. I don't know what it means but it is very strange" Mother stated. She was clever enough to notice that our resemblance is a bit suspicious, she wasn't just oblivious and curious.

"I do know why. But I can't tell you" I replied honestly and she switched her gaze on me.

"I don't need it anyways" she retorted and left the room. I sighed for myself and sat down on the bed.

"What am I going to do..?" I whispered to myself. I thought about that I should go to my Father and talk to him directly. I didn't know where he lived however, and I was too afraid to ask Mother when she was pissed at me. I started to overthink that I might "die" if I didn't fix the time line as it should be.

"You're doing that again" I heard a voice say. I looked at the door, where I head the voice and saw Shiori standing there.

"What?"

"Breathing weirdly" she stated and I sighed in defeat.

"Do something. Don't sit here and think too deep. Keep you brain up and running with something else that doesn't stress you out" Shiori said and literally dragged me out of the room.

"Wh-where are we going?" I asked as I was proceeded to be dragged out of the motel.

"Back to the training ground" she said without changing gaze.

As we arrived, Shiori lead me further to where the training dummies are.

"Why are we even here?" I questioned as she pushed me towards one of the dummies.

"You're going to train to keep your brain from the stressful stuff" she explained and walked away.

"Shiori.." I watched her disappear by the many streets the village had.

It was always relieving to be reminded that Shiori still care for me. I started to practice my taijutsu skills. But after ten minutes of my training, I felt that it started to become really boring to practice the same thing everyday. I felt that my taijutsu skill has become better already.

I could practice my bukijutsu, but I didn't have any weapons, other than a kunai and shurikens, and I know very well how to use them. I came to a conclusion that I could train my jutsus to be a bit stronger, but then again I had already got a hang of my earth release jutsus, so I didn't really have to practice them either.

I started to think if I could try to learn Masanori's jutsu, but using fire release instead of the plasma release kekkei genkai.

I pulled out a kunai from my back pouch and started to focus on emitting chakra around the blade of the weapon. Surprisingly enough, I was struggling doing that practice. I didn't understand why it was so hard to infuse chakra in to the kunai.

I tried harder and harder but it just ended up that I put too much chakra in to my fists, which made the kunai fly away from my hand. It was too much force I guessed.

I fell down on the ground with a sitting position, and started to scold myself. Aiko, the freaking prodigy couldn't do something simple as adding chakra to a weapon.

I started to think what went wrong. I thought about how I accidentally put too much chakra in to my hands. I also realized that the kunai flew out of my hand in a spirally manner. I wondered if it was coincidence or if it was on purpose.

I picked up the kunai and repeated my action again. I got the same results as before, the kunai flew away, spinning. I also had payed close attention to my hands when repeating. My chakra apparently started to spin around my right hand and up to my forearm.

I tried again but without the kunai and just focused on my hand. The chakra started to spin again, even faster than before.

~~~

After trying a lot of times, I successfully made my chakra spin so fast around my hand, so it structured a lance sword like shape.

I tried one more time, but hitting the dummy instead. I charged up my chakra, making it go in a spinning motion so it got its lance shape. I ran towards the dummy, piercing it with my jutsu so it blew away, like if a tornado had hit them. The dummy got totally destroyed and marks from my jutsu was very visible on the ground. The strong force from my jutsu made me fall on the ground with my butt first.

I examined the destruction I made as I stood up again. Even the fences from behind the dummy had been destroyed. I was so happy and excited about the new jutsu I made and how strong it was. I felt so excited that I made a little silly dance as some kind of victory.

"That was so cool!" I heard someone shout. I turned around to see two boys who were behind a small bush. They had probably hide in it before.

"Meh. I don't know. She is pretty weird" said the taller boy, who I realized was my father.

"You're kidding right?! That jutsu was awesome!" The smaller boy praised as I tried to figure out who he was. He had black short hair and wore very baggy clothes.

"I also want learnt that technique too! Please teach me!" The small boy begged as he approached me. I realized that the black haired boy had a two scars across his face, making the scar look a cross. It was then I understood it was my Sensei!

"I'm not sure.. I barely know what I just did. By the way. How did you get that scar?" Makoto Sensei never explained the scar on his face, so I took the advantage.

"Oh umm.. I-I accidentally..."

"He was practicing throwing shurikens, but two of them collided with each other and got himself hit" father finished and Makoto Sensei became a bit embarrassed.

"Tanaka!"

"It's true. I was with you" father argued and they had a little fight.

"You could have at least let me explain it!"

"Then it would take a lot longer than it necessarily would have" I stood there awkwardly, waiting for their little argument to end.

"Anyways. What is your name? Who taught you that jutsu?" Sensei tried to focus on me.

"Umm.. I developed it myself?" I wasn't really sure if I could really claim it as "mine".

"Haha! Yeah sure. A crazy person like you? I don't think so" father taunted and I felt a mixed feeling of guilt and embarrassment.

"Hey, I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I didn't mean to do it. Moth- I mean, Akemi didn't know I was like that. I usually don't become like that to be honest. You don't have to accept my apology but, don't consider Akemi in this? She is a very nice person!" I improvised the whole damn apology, I wasn't ready to meet him for the rest of the day!

"She seem very sincere about this. I don't think she is that bad as you explained, Tanaka"

"Hrmm... sure" father said and turned around to walk away.

"It was nice seeing you. Goodbye for now" Makoto Sensei waved me goodbye and followed father.

"Are you still joining them to meet Shizuka?"

"Maybe..." I heard their conversation before they just became an echo.

I decided it was enough for that day. It had already become a little late. I didn't realize it was dark until I looked up at the sky.

~~~

I returned to the motel to see a maiden locking the room I was suppose to sleep in.

"Excuse me? Why are you locking the door?" I asked and the maiden flinched.

"Oh there you are! I have orders from lord Yamakage that we have to lock the "guests" room over the night" she explained as she unlocked the door for me. I thanked her and she left. I looked at Shiori who was "sleeping". I knew she was just laying there, thinking. It was the reason why she had hard times trying to sleep.

I sat down on the floor, beside her bed and laid m head on the mattress.

"Thank you"

"For what?" She asked with annoyance in her voice.

"For caring for me" I explained but she didn't reply. I scruff her hair and said "goodnight" to her before going to bed. She didn't answer that time either.

It took a good while of the night and I couldn't fall asleep. I started to think about the day, to make my mind tired and hopefully grow tired of it.

I wondered how that orb made us go back in time, and why we had it in the first place. I also started to think about the ice cream accident, and what the consequences would be of changing the relationship between my mother and father. I started to worry that my existen will fade because of my action.

My mind was still lingering in the thought not exist anymore, it made me anxious and nervous. I started to think that I wasn't the only one who would disappear if we didn't change back the time line, Harumiko would disappear also. I got scared of the thought of not being able to reunite with my beloved little sister.

My heart was beating fast, my breaths was uneven and It became warmer so I started to sweat. I needed to get som fresh air. I quickly got up from my bed and walk to the window, trying to get it open. It was with no success, as it seemed like they had locked up the windows too.

I tried to calm myself by talking deep breath, but my pounding heart wasn't beating any slower. I looked around the room to figure out how to get out. My only escape was Shiori. I walked up to her bed and gently shook her shoulder.

"Mm what do you want?"

"Teleport me outside" I said hastily, so she wouldn't hear how nervous I am.

"Why? And your breathing weird again.

"Please just teleport me. I forgot something important at that park" I lied and Shiori didn't say anything. She grabbed my arm and suddenly, I was at the park.

I breath loudly as no one was around to hear my panic attack. I curled up on the ground, slamming the ground for no reason. I was scared confused. I didn't know what to do. My parents didn't like each other and I didn't know how to make them like each other again. My existent was in danger. My little sisters life was in danger...

I tried so hard to not let myself cry, letting a lump grow in my throat. It hurt so bad that I started to cough, making my breath even worse.

My palms also started to get itchy. I tried to sit up and looked down at my hands that was shaking. I poorly tried to hug myself to I wouldn't scratch my palms, and to maintain myself so I wouldn't fall.

It wasn't too hot anymore, it had rather become a bit cold. My heart was still beating fast but my breath have calmed down. My body could barely move, I just sat there like a full sack.

"It's time to go ba-" Shiori had teleported to me. She was shocked to see me in this state. She probably barely understood what just happened.

"Shiori"

"Mm..?"

"I miss Harumiko"

"We will be home soon"


	15. Chapter 14

_**Chapter 14 Shiori "Time travel" Part 2**_

I woke up pretty late, as I was still tired from last night. Aiko wasn't really her usual self. I couldn't blame her however as we were literally back in time. I slowly got up and saw Aiko staring at the roof.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked and she shook her head.

"No. I fell asleep. But I also woke up pretty early" she explained and turned her head to look at me.

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

"Yeah" she started to question why I have started to care about her. I didn't understand her so I just shrugged it off.

"Don't play oblivious. You clearly show that you care about me. It makes me happy. I just wish you could be like this more often. Why aren't you like this normally? Why can't we just be friends?"

"Because you..." wouldn't remember anyways. I didn't know how Aiko brains or memories works, but she kept forgetting things. Not just simple things like she forgets a pencil somewhere, it could be more complicated things like a big events, like a Christmas evening. Sometimes, she forgot what is important to her.

"Never mind. It's nothing you have to remember anyways" I said and just laid on the bed again.

It didn't take too long until Aiko started to bother me again. She jumped in to my bed and landed on me so I yelled because of her sudden action.

"If you said A you have to say B!"

"Leave me alone Aiko!"

"No!" I threw her out of the bed.

"What were you about to say!"

"Nothing!" She became this annoying little sibling. I didn't know how to shrug her off at these situations.

I sighed, trying to hide my giggles.

"This is why you're always so annoying!"

"What?! I'm not annoying!" she said in a childish manner. She took a pillow and started to hit me with it.

"Stop it!" I said but she didn't stop.

"Not until you tell me what you were suppose to say!" She teased but I got my own pillow and started to hit Aiko with it as well.

It wasn't often I had fun with Aiko. I didn't really know why I had loosened up. She was right but I didn't want to admit it. I was too stubborn.

We heard a knock from the door while we had our pillow battle. It was Akemi who unlocked the door and entered. She looked very tired.

"Hi. We're going to visit a friend of mine. We assemble outside the motel" Akemi explained and left the room.

"Hm? I thought we already had met most of her friends?" Aiko questioned.

We changed our clothes from the pajamas we borrowed from the motel, to our regular clothing.

We went outside to see Katsuo sleeping on Hisashis shoulder. Both of them was sitting on the staircase. I felt that Aiko rested her head on my head. She was taller than me so I was a perfect "head rest" for her.

"Why?" I asked and she giggled.

"I don't know" she simply replied. Her hand brushed against mine and she ended up grabbing it. I felt calm, almost at piece. It wasn't often I felt this way with people. Hisashi probably understood that everything was alright, as he gave us a soothing smile.

At last, Akemi came with Omi. At the same time, Tanaka and father arrived. Father also held a big basket. Akemi looked shocked, but mostly happy to see her obvious crush, coming with us for her sake. Akemi explained once again that we were going to visit a friend of her. She mentioned that we had to sneak out of the village.

"This doesn't really sound safe if you say we have to sneak out.." Katsuo commented, which actually made sense, something that didn't come too much out of his mouth.

"It is safe. Mom is just a bit overprotective. But there is no danger in going outside, as well visiting Shizuka" we all was a bit skeptical but we ended up following Akemi anyways. She led us to the entrance of the village.

She revealed a hidden tunnel behind some bushes that was on the side from the main entrance. I recalled the small tunnel was used by Aiko when she sneaked out at nights.

We crawled through the small tunnel and ended up outside the mountain that the village was contained in. I looked around to see that the environment around our village hadn't changed much.

"do you guys see that huge forest over there?" Asked Akemi and pointed at the forest in the distance in front of us.

"That's our destination so follow my lead!" Akemi was in a much better mood. Probably because she got a "second chance" to show Tanaka how she is.

Our walk to the forest was enjoying. We talked, had fun conversation and just had a good time.

"Hey guys. Why is skeleton a bad liar? Because you can see right through it!" Omi joked, as they had been doing for a while.

"Oh my god! That was so funny! Hahaha!" Aiko thought it was the best jokes in the entire universe. She really had a bad taste of humor. But it made her happy so I didn't mind.

"Puns are the worst!"

"Someone who actually get it" I agreed with Hisashi. Puns was the worst jokes. It's so bad and simple.

"Some puns are actually funny-"

"Nobody likes you Masanori!" Tanaka cut him off and we all laugh, as it seemed to be an inside joke to hate on my dad.

"You all are huge dick!"

"I know" everyone got quite and just stared at Hisashi.

"We didn't have to know that"

"But now you all know and you can thank me later for that mental imagination" He joked and half of the group laughed until they either couldn't breath, or until they got tears in their eyes.

As we got closer to the forest, I started to recognize the path we followed. It was similar to my way home.

We finally arrived at our destination, and it was my old cottage but in a healthier condition.

"My best friend lives here. I wanted her to meet you guys before you leave" Akemi explained. She knocked on the door and it took a while before someone opened. In front of us stood a short girl, with long black hair. She had dark purple eyes. She had many facial features that I had.

"Hi Shizuka!" The short girl brighten up quickly to see her best friend.

"Oh hi! I didn't know that you would visit, not as many either.. you could have sent a dove Akemi!" Shizuka was very shocked. She probably weren't too used to have so many people around her.

"I know but I wanted to surprise you!" Akemi even seemed better to see Shizuka than her crush Tanaka. They must be really good friends. I didn't want to admit but I was really happy that my and Aiko's parents had such a good relationship with each other.

"We wanted to eat with you also!" father showed mother the big basket and she blushed. It should have been awkward to see my parents all lovey dovey, but yet again, I didn't mind.

I heard Aiko giggle behind me. She probably thought it was a cute gesture. Father took out a big blanket from the basket and put it on the ground so we could sit on it. He also took out some pastries and juice for us. Before we started to eat, we introduced us to my mother.

"It's nice to meet everyone! Are you new comers to the village?" She asked and we nervously said "yes".

"They're just visiting and on their first day, they wrecked the whole library" Akemi said and mother laughed.

"Why did you do that?"

"Ummm things just got out of hand. We had too much fun" Aiko lied and I realized how good both Aiko and her mother could lie. It was a bit scary.

"But lets eat, shall we?" Akemi stated and we started to eat.

"Hey, Shizuka. Wanna hear a joke?" Aiko asked and I felt it would go downhill from here.

"Sure!"

"Who ate all of the tomatoes?"

"I don't know?"

"Tom-ate-those"

"..."

"That was worse than mine" Omi stated. And we all laughed again.

"I am funny.." Aiko said, trying to sound sad but failed because she also giggled.

After a while when everyone had finishing eating, Akemi changed the subject we had and asked something serious.

"By the way. Shizuka, could you explain your clans ability?" Everyone stared at my mother as she wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Yes I can. My clan has a special body. We have enzymes that passively absorbs nature chakra, but it will also make us go crazy. We even might hurt someone we care about.." You could clearly hear that mother have experienced it. The question was: Who did she hurt?

"I think I know how mother got her scar on her back..." Aiko whispered so only I could hear.

"I'm sorry" I said and she took my hand and held it tightly.

"It's none of your faults" she reassured.

"It also makes your appearance change too?" Akemi added and mother nodded.

"Shizuka. We think we found someone from your clan" Akemi announced and mother looked shocked.

"W-who?"

"Shiori!" Aiko's mother pointed at me.

"Oh! I've never known of you. Our clan prefer to keep a distance from each other for specific reasons. But I'm happy to meet you!" Mother shook my hand and was excited to meet another person from her clan.

"N-nice to meet you too!" I was very nervous. I didn't know how to behave in front of my mother. I was mostly awkward.

"But where do you come from?" She asked and I went silent. I wasn't good at lying. Luckily, Aiko covered my back.

"We're sorry but we don't want reveal that. Our village destination is highly hidden and want it to still be unknown to others" Aiko explained. It was technically not a complete lie.

"Ah I see. I hope you visit more often" mother wished, as it broke my heart to know that we might not see each other ever again. The little picnic kept going, we had more conversation that could be about anything. We never argued, we all we're respectful and open minded. It was amazing to be with this group of people.

"It was really fun to spend time with you Shizuka. But we have to go back to our village before mother realize that we are gone" Akemi excused and started to gather all the plastic plates. We helped her to gather everything and we were soon to travel again. I quickly felt gloomy as I didn't want to leave mother yet.

"Thank you for everything Akemi! Come again soon" mother said as we parted.

I walked very slowly compared to the others. Aiko had to walk slowly so she could keep up with me. I pondered over if I should return or not. I finally came to a stand still and it was only Aiko who noticed I was left behind. She jogged back to me and asked if I was going to follow.

"I forgot something. I will catch up with you" I explained but Aiko knew better.

"Don't be late" she said and let me go.

I dashed back to the little cottage and saw mother watering some plants that was on the side of the house.

"Oh. You're back? Did you forget something?" Mother as she put away the watering pot.

"No. I just wanted to know about you. We are from the same clan after all" I admitted and a her sheeks turned a bit rosy.

"I see. It's not often we see someone else belonging to the same clan as ourself. I'm glad I met you. What is it that you want to know?" Mother said politely.

"I want to know how to use our power! I want to be strong!" I begged and she looked very surprised.

"Oh, I guess no one has taught you about sage transformation?" I shook my head.

"I had luck. My father thought me how to use my powers effectively when we didn't go berserk" mother smiled as she talked about grandfather.

She showed me her backyard that had a small fighting area.

"I used to spar with father in this training field. Now it's just Akemi I practice with" we took position on each side of the training field.

"Should I go easy on you? As you are blind on the other eye" mother asked and I nodded. I've tried to ignore the struggle of being blind but reality would always remind me that I have no choice but to deal with it.

The fight started with mother changing her arm so a axe blade appeared on the side of her forearm. I was shocked to see that mother was capable of changing forms without being out of control.

"But you do not have to hold back!" She disappears for a split second and then appeared right in front of me in mere seconds. I was in shock to see mother being so fast. I had to react or I could have been cut in half. I quickly step aside and let mother bash in to the ground.

Being in such a close range, I took the opportunity to use "lightning blade". She surprised me once more with her speed. She successfully retreaded her arm from the ground, changing its form in to a round, shield like appearance, blocking my attack perfectly in time.

"You're fast, but not enough for me!" She stated as she swayed away my sword and tackled me head on. Her back changed appearance and grew out some kinda of tube like appendages, ripping apart the back of her shirt. They started to emitting powerful blasts that sent us both flying in to the wood. If I didn't do anything then the trees would hit my back. So I teleported to where my sword had landed after it had fell off.

I heard some trees getting smashed and the fall of them. It took a few seconds until I saw mother walking out of the woods.

"Did you just... teleport?" She was panting from the crashing.

"Maybe you are faster than I thought" she smirked and she blasted straight ahead for me again. I quickly jumped over her, avoiding the extreme tackled. I put my hand on mother shoulder, marking her with the "flying thunder god" jutsu.

Right after she missed me, her booster appendages disappeared so she didn't destroy her surroundings.

She quickly turned to me again. Her arm changed this this time and it expanded, grabbing me and then retreating her arm. It acted like a chain.

She also changed her other arm like a piston. I knew I would be done for if I got hit by her punch. Right before she tried to land the punch, I teleported behind her and drew my sword close to her neck.

"So it was it. You're very quick and that is a very good advantage" she turned herself back to normal and I put my tantō back in to its scabbard.

"But how can you do that without going berserk?" I ask immediately as I didn't know it was possible.

"You can use sage transformation without going out of control. But as no one has taught you, I understand that this is a surprise" she explained. We sat down on a back that was beside the house.

"I have a small condition however" I stated.

"My body is pretty weak. My enzymes doesn't take in as much as nature energy than normally. Which is the reason why I don't lose control as much. So I could only use sage transformation when I also was enrage because that's when I had the most nature chakra. However, my berserks has been more apparent recently" I said while our adrenaline rushes calmed down while we had our conversation.

"Maybe you are a late bloomer? But then again, I have never ever heard of someone of our clan to have weak enzymes in their body and what that do to them. I don't have too much knowledge either, as I fled from Father long ago" I didn't get too much information of why I had this certain condition, but I got the chance to meet my mother and that is something you could barely compare.

"What happened to gra- your dad?" Trying to act with the time line was a bit hard at times.

"I didn't want hurt my dad so I decided to flee from him" everything went quite, only the breeze could be heard. I didn't know what to say in that moment.

"I deeply hurt him once. I couldn't forgive myself, even if dad did. I decided to run away from home later that day. So I wouldn't hurt dad anymore" I was the same. I couldn't really forgive myself that easy when I hurt someone close to me.

"It's a bit weird because you two have similar noses. Small and I plump" she smiled and I blushed. I didn't knew my grandfather but it made me excited, knowing I had similarities to him too.

"But where did you come from?" I asked.

"Far in to the land of wind" I haven't traveled so much, and I hadn't remember anything from the geography lessons in the ninja academy either. I didn't really have any where she or grandfather came from.

"Don't you think he misses you?" I continued asked and she chuckled.

"He probably do. But this is the best for the both of us" mother stated, trying to give me a smile. It was clearly shown in her eyes, that she felt lonely, even with the small friends she had. I recognize those feelings.

"I'm sure you will meet him again" I lied, knowing what her fate led to.

"You think so? I hope you're right!" It broke my heart to lore her in, in a false hope. I tried to give her a smile at least.

"I would like to practice again right away. I want to try to use sage transformation, even if I'm weaker than I should be" I changed the subject and stood up.

"Your not weak. You just have a simple condition that can we worked with" mother commented and I felt relieved that she still wanted to help me out.

"We could try the classic way to increase your nature chakra. Meditate" I grunted at her suggestion as I didn't think it was something fun.

"Any other suggestions?" She asked and I shook me head.

"But what if I go crazy?"

"Then I'm here to help you" mother reassured and I tried my best to be in focus.

I stood up while concentrating and felt the sudden rush of nature chakra rush. I tried to keep it balance, but it was harder than thought. I tried to sage transform my arm before losing my focus, and successfully change my arm in to a lance.

"That is great Shiori! Let's see if you fight with it well!" Without a warning, mother ran towards me with her battle axe arm again. I quickly parried her with my lance made arm.

"You're a fast learner!"

~~~

The sky had become an orange hue. So I decided it was time to get back.

"I had an amazing day with you" mother said as I was readying for my trip back.

"Even if we just trained the whole day?" I joked and she giggled.

"It was pleasant to have your company anyways" she admited and it warmed my heart.

"You will visit again, right?" She asked as she stood right in front of me.

"I'm not sure.." I said, trying to not to sound sad. But she could see that something was odd.

"I'm sure we meet again somehow! We just have to believe" she cheered and I gave her a faint smile.

"I'll see you soon Shiori" she hugged me tightly, and at that point, I couldn't hide anything from my mother. I broke down in tears and hugged my mother tightly. She didn't know what to do but holding me in her warm embrace.

"Everything is going too be okey.." she whispered and rubbed my back.

"Yeah... it's going to be okey" I said and quickly pushed the syringe in her back and injected the serum.

The old Yamakage knew that her daughter Akemi couldn't hold herself to go to her dear friend. So she entrusted me with a serum last night. The serum made you forget what happened the past few days, it also makes you fall asleep right after you have been injected.

"Wh-what is happen-" she fell asleep in our embrace and I felt bad for her. I carried her back to her home. I laid her down on her small bed. Before I turned away from her, my glance got cought on a small box on her nightstand.

I rewind it and heard calm beautiful melody, you could mistaken it for being a lullaby. I recognized it. But I didn't remember where. I let it keep playing as I exited the building that I called home. I decided to walk through the woods before taking a shortcut. I looked around at the trees as I strolled through the forest. An old memory came to my mind.

I remembered that a long time ago, Aiko told me that she wanted to draw the trees in the forest. It was the time when she remembered me. At the moment, she only remembered me as her older sister Kamiko, not me.

I exited the woods and saw the mountain again. I sighed for myself as I teleported to the training ground, which I was sure that Aiko would be, and I was right.

I was about to approach her, but then I saw what she was doing.

She was readying herself. Focusing her chakra on her right hand. The chakra was visible and it started to spin around her forearm, and out to her hand. It became a shape of a lance too. Flames started to surround it as well, she has successfully added to fire nature in to her jutsu. She was only getting stronger; and I only recently had learnt how to use sage transformation, which was something basic in my clan.

She ran towards the dummy and hit it with her fire lance, making the tornado fire through the dummy and left off clear marks of where the blast had destroyed. There were barely any left of the dummy, only a small stub of what is suppose to be it's "body". Aiko had fell to the ground, probably because of exhaustion, indicating that the jutsu took quite a lot of chakra. It almost looked like she was out of breath when she was panting heavily, but she still had a smile plastered on her face. Her pride shined.

I once again felt worthless compared to her. She had master a unknown jutsu that was clearly derived from my fathers jutsu, and I have done nothing to progress.

She stood up and turned her head towards me. I imagine that she had already sensed my chakra long ago.

She jogged towards me with shaky legs. You could tell that she had also trained the majority of the day.

"You saw everything, right? I came up with this myself and I've trained all day! I started yesterday but I've developed it more and I think it is perfect now!" She was babbling when she is happy and excited.

"Yeah, sure" I simply said and turned around to leave, but a small hand grabbed my shoulder so I stopped.

"Shiori? Is something the matter?" Aiko asked and I shrugged her hand off.

"No"

"You're bad at lying" She stated.

"Just leave me alone" I tried to go away again but she grabbed my arm instead to stop me.

"Shiori I don't want you be like this. Did something happen? Everything was good a while ago..." She questioned and I scoffed.

"Why do you care? You shouldn't be bothering with me anyways" a perfect person shouldn't be with a broken person.

"Of course I care! I've been worried since you left! You said you would be back soon!" She complained.

"If you were that worried then you could have gone searching for me" without caring that she was holding, I stormed away from the scenario without listening to her calling after me.

I ran the opposite of the direction where the training area was. Everything went downhill for my mental stability. I had to make my own mother forget me right after I had an amazing time with her, and then I had to watch Aiko over shine me. I walked to an alleyway and decided to take a "break". Someone from the Yamakage staff smoked, and forgot their cigarettes pack so I took the opportunity to steal it and use it myself. I took out a cigarette and started smoking.

"Aah.. this remind me of something... don't you think?" Omi appeared from the dark corner.

"Mm... what do you want?" I asked.

"Aiko seems upset. So I assumed you have done something" They explained and I rolled my eyes.

"You seem upset too. I guess it has something to do with your sudden disappearance earlier this day?" They asked and I shook my head.

"Then, what is it?"

"... do you know how it feels to be worthless to the person you care about the most?"


	16. Chapter 15

_**Chapter 15 Aiko "Time travel" Part 3  
**_  
I didn't have any difficulty falling asleep last night, as I had trained almost the whole day. However, I could not let go of the thought that Shiori was hurt. She was clearly upset the other day.

I sat on my bed and examined Shiori who was still sleeping. If you looked closely, you could see she had new scars on her body, nothing too severe but they were visible. I drew to a conclusion that someone might had hurt her. My mind got shrouded with the thought of someone that wanted to hurt Shiori. I already knew that revenge wasn't an option, as it would heavily change the time line, and it wasn't sure that somebody had harmed her.

I moved to Shiori's bed and sat on the edge on it, trying not to wake her up.

"You get hurt a lot, don't you?" I said quietly as I gently caressed her head.

"I want you to be happy too, like me.." I started to question if I was really happy. Everything I had achieved back home, was mostly for my mothers sake. I just wanted her to be proud of me, rather than thinking of how I felt in the whole scenario.

If I had lived through my childhood the way I wanted to, with the friends I actually wanted to hang out with, and act how I wanted then maybe I would have been happier.

"Communication is important to any relationship. If you just could talk honestly with me, then maybe I could help?" I said; "I know you don't want my help sometimes, but it hurts me to see you trying to do everything on your own. You have friends who cares deeply about you" I kept comforting, knowing that Shiori didn't listen.

I decided to go to the dining hall of the motel and eat breakfast. I sat for myself and ate up my scrambled egg and bacon. It didn't take too long before I had already finished everything, but I got stuck zoning out.

My thought didn't get interrupted until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You're thinking" said the familiar voice. I looked at the person and realized it was Hisashi.

"And?" I asked as he sat beside me with his plate of breakfast.

"Is it about yesterday?" He asked further and I nodded.

"Shiori is... stubborn. It is not easy to communicate with her-"

"Then why is it so easy for everyone else to talk to her? Like they have known her as long as I have?" I almost made a scene, but I didn't use a loud voice to catch everyone's attention.

"..." Hisashi was quite for a moment, like if he tried to come up with an excuse.

"It might sound stupid, but she do this to protect you" I raised an eyebrow to his statement.

"Protect me? From what?"

"Herself" Hisashi stated.

"You know how she is with her kekkei genkai and all. She can't handle herself when she becomes like that.. she even tried to end you" I knew that he was right but I still wanted to excuse Shiori in some way.

"But I am strong! I can take care of myself. And she also has that seal-"

"But your mom won't be there forever to suppress her.

When she is gone, the seal won't matter and she could kill anyone including you. I'm very sure Shiori want to avoid that at all cost. She does it in her own way that can be mistaken as frustration. But you also need to respect her when she needs to cool down alone" Hisashi argued.

"It still doesn't explain why she can be so open with everyone else but me" I said but Hisashi also had a good answer for it.

"Because she rather hurt anyone else but you" I was in a half shock, as I have never seen the situation like that. I sighed in defeat, as it was a very valid point.

"Alright then..." I said and we put our plates away. We walked out of the motel to get some air.

"I bet that you need to get some steam off. So let's-"

"I want to spar with Aiko!" An excited samurai had appeared in front of us. I assumed he had been on the roof of the building because of how he fell from above.

"Really? You were pretty grumpy last time we fought" I stated and he blushed.

"Well I have trained a lot so it won't be like last time-"

"You said hat last time too"

"But-"

"And the time before that" I let my frustrated side show off.

"Come on! Let's just fight already!" He states but I shook my head.

"I'm not in a mood to fight you" I explained and he frowned. He probably have realized that something was up.

"Alright then" he said grumpily and sat on the ground.

"What are you guys gonna do anyways?" Katsuo asked but I walked past him without answering him.

"Cool our heads I guess"

"No. I have to fix things between my parents" I said and went straight ahead to the Yamakage building as I assumed my mother would be there.

My assumption was wrong however, I stumbled upon my grandma instead.

"Hi there Aiko. Searching for someone?" She said as she sorted the papers she was holding.

"I'm searching for mo- Akemi" I corrected myself and grandmother didn't seem care.

"I think she might be in the plaza. She was suppose to buy hamster food. You know where the plaza is?" I raised an eyebrow as it was a surprise to me that mother used to have pets.

"Yeah. We will look around there" I said and turned around to go to the plaza. I felt bad sometimes that Hisashi has to keep up with me.

"What will you even do when you find her?" Hisashi said; "it's not like she will magically get courage to make up with Tanaka with help of a simple conversation" he argued and I knew he was right.

"But I have to try something!" I argued back and kept my steady walk towards the plaza.

"Aiko slow down!" I heard Katsuo say as I crashed in to my father.

"Wow weirdo, take it easy" he said in a teasing manner.

"I'm sorry. Do you know where Akemi is?" I asked and he shrugged.

"Nah. I don't really care either" you saw clearly that he tried to act tough. He walked past us and minded his own business.

"Just let me do it" Hisashi caught up with my father and stopped him.

"What do you wa-" Father got interrupted my a hard slap on his face.

"What the hell?!" I got panic by Hisashi's action.

"You got to be a man about this!" He confronted my father and I barely believed what I saw and heard.

"What are you talking about?!"

"You have to be a man and confront your girl!" Hisashi said; "You have to show her who is boss! You can't just walk around and play "hard to get"! You have to show her that you can take initiative too!" I started to question if Hisashi even knew what he was talking about.

Whatever he was rambling about, my father seemed to understand every single word.

"You know what... you're right! I'm not going to hide anymore. I'm going to talk to Akemi!" My father said proudly as he straighten up his posture.

I hid my face in my hands as I didn't understand how ridiculous it was and that it actually worked. Hisashi whispered something to father and then walked up to us.

"You just said that a simple conversation might not change them..."

"I said YOU can't convince them by a simple conversation"

"I fucking hate you" I slapped his arm and we both laugh.

"I can't distinguish if you actually arguing or if you're messing around" Katsuo commented as his gaze switch between me and my teammate.

"You'll get used to it" I said and realized that my father has approached us.

"You guys want to help me find her?" He asked and we all agreed.

We walked around the whole plaza and didn't seem to find her. We started to search around alleyways.

I sensed mother chakra clearer and clearer, until I ended up in the alleyways I could sense it the most. I could hear whispers, but I could make out that one of the voices was my mother's.

"Letting weird outsiders stay in our place? I don't like it and not them either. No one is allowed here but the "Lake village"!"

"They don't want to harm anyone! They are not enemies"

"How are you so sure Akemi? When you least expect it, they will back stab you! Just like that lunatic friend of yours" A laughter was echoing through their alleyway.

"It was an accident! She did not mean to hurt me!" I could hear her desperately argue. I wanted to stop them before anything worse could happen.

I shouted to the others that I found mother. The rest of the group came running as we stormed in to the alleyway. It was pretty dark when you walked deeper in to it. When we found them, you could see that mother was surrounded by older boys that tried to threaten mother.

"Akemi!" Father shouted and mother was relieved to see him.

"Oh look! It's Tanka who is trying to be a hero!"

"He even has a bunch of sidekicks with him!" The older teenager teased and had their focus on us, except for one and he seemed to be the leader of the bullies. He held a kunai close to my mothers chest.

"Let her go. She hasn't done anything wrong" Hisashi said and the boys just laughed.

"Make us" the goons stormed towards us. I wanted to use the "earth wave" technique but I knew it would draw attention to many people.

I charged up chakra in to my hand but Hisashi grabbed my shoulder so I stopped.

"That new jutsu of yours will tire you out quickly. I suggest not to use it, not "chidori" either for that matter as it takes pretty much chakra too" He pulled me back as he gathered breath. He chest became a bit too big than it should, but he then blowed it all out in a massive snowy wind. It slowed the goons a bit but they kept running.

Luckily they were as many as we were, so we took on one of each.

My opponent started with a high kick that was suppose to hit my head, but I blocked it with my forearm. Another quick attack from above, it was a straight hand trying to karate-chop my head but I grabbed his wrist and pushed with my forearm to get his leg out of my face. I twisted his wrist and he retreated his hand in a wince.

Our combat continued and I had the advantage, until I felt a strong heat. I ducked and a stream of fire hit my enemy. I glanced over my shoulder to see Hisashi fight against the boy who had affinity for fire.

Looking away for a second was a mistake, as I received a hard punch in the face. The impact sent me flying into a wall, making it crack. The older teenager pushed me further in to the wall so I couldn't move, and grabbed my arms and pushed them as well to the wall so I couldn't escape.

"We'll end you before you can do your deeds!" I glanced at my comrades that had also been hostages..

"Leave them alone! It is me you want, right?!" Mother begged.

I wanted to resist but everyone had no way of escaping, and no one wouldn't really hear our screams as we were pretty far from the everyone else where in the village.

I heard a sudden "poof" and my gaze switched to the "exit" of the alleyway, as it was there where the sound came from.

"Why the hell did you teleport us?!" I heard someone scream, I recognized it to be my aunt's voice.

"I told you! Look!" Masanori was with both of my aunts, Sakiko and Tomoko, and apparently he knew how to teleport.

"Akemi..?" Tomoko said and looked shocked, but with no emotion in her voice.

"Oh you guys have fucked up.." Sakiko commented as Tomoko became crazy.

"ERA SVIN!" Tomoko cursed in a language that was unknown to me.

She slammed her hand to the ground and thick roots erupted from the ground and wrapped around the older teenager that held us all hostages.

Sakiko spit out lava so it covered above us like a roof. The lava was still active after she spit it out, so it was immensely hot. Drop of lava fell on the boys and they melt with it, becoming nothing but a pile of melted meat with the rest of the lava. Their scream of agony and pleading was almost hurtful for my ears, and watching them being set on fire and see how the flesh just melt away from the skeleton made me paralyzed. It was just a terrifying view of death and torture. The skeleton fell down and melt with the lava.

After the corpses had burnt up, more roots emerged from the earth to cover up the mess, it even covered itself in beautiful flowers. I stayed still against the wall like if I was frozen. What my eyes had witnessed had left me paralyzed. I didn't move until Hisashi shook me to sanity.

"Aiko, you're there?" I looked at my friend and tried to focus.

"Yes.." I switched my sight on my mother who had a group hug with her sisters. But she also broke away from it and started to blame the oldest sister.

"You didn't have to kill them!"

"They were threatening you! Those who opposes the Shimizu royal family shall not go unpunished!" Aunt Sakiko argued as Tomoko tried to keep the oldest and the youngest in a certain distance from each other.

"Killing is not the answer!"

"If you go easy on people like this then you might get yourself killed!" Aunt retorted and that silenced my mother.

"She won't get killed when I'm around" Father interrupted the family fight and a grin appeared on Aunt Tomoko's face.

"Of course big guy" she pushed mother closer to father and they both blushed.

We walked towards them with shaky legs; but Hisashi held me steady so I didn't fall.

"There is something I want to tell you" Father lead my mother a bit away from us so we couldn't eavesdrop on them.

"So you think the royal children will finally be a thing?" Masanori commented and looked at my aunts.

"How d-does this royal thing even w-w-work in your clan?" I questioned as I didn't know too much about or clans history.

"The Shimizu clan is the biggest clan in our village. We have three royal families and we basically rule majority of the things that happens here"

"Sounds some kind of dictatorship but what do I know" Hisashi played funnily stupid so he wouldn't get on my aunts bad side. I understood where he got that perspective. Seeing how easy they got rid off opposers, no one would have the courage to stand against them.

My parents came back, holding each other's hand proudly and I couldn't have felt more relieved. However, the image of a body melting in lava still lingered in my mind. I felt like throwing up.

"We have to go back to the town square. Mother has something important to share" Aunt Tomoko stated and we all walked to the plaza.

I noticed that my parents was very talkative towards one another. It was very cute watching them as they forgot everything around them, and just enjoyed the little bubble that only they existed in.

My mind gave me sudden reminder of my best friend.

"Do.. Shiori kn-know that we're going to a-a-assemble in the plaza?"

"Worry about yourself before worrying about others"

"Hisashi is right" commented Katsuo on Hisashis argument. I almost forgot that my bodyguard was still around. I didn't really care either. I was too focused on my family and close ones.

The closer we got to the plaza, the more crowded it became. They recognized us pretty quickly so they made a clear path for us to make it to the "scene". Shiori and Omi was already there when we arrived.

"I'm glad you are finally here. Were there any difficulties?" My oldest Aunt explained everything to grandma.

"What an outrageous act!" The villagers gasped at grandmas dominating loud voice.

"But you eliminated them, you said?" Aunt Sakiko nodded and the crowd started to whisper between them self.

"Why do you kill your citizens?" Shiori growled.

"Even if they had your daughter hostage, you could easily turn the table and capture them without harm" Shiori was brave to speak up to the Yamakage like that.

"Those who threatens the royal family of the Shimizu clan shall have their proper punishment by losing their live-"

"But that is not right! No one should live in fear of their leader" I could hear how nervous everyone was. They were probably not used to see someone argue against their Kage so publicly. While the villagers was scared, I was enjoying watching my best friend being brave.

"You're reasoning is irrelevant. Have you ever been a leader?"

"No. But I have common sense that slaughter is never a good answer" was Shiori's final argument before grandma became quite.

"You should know how valuable someone's life is. Isn't that why you protect your children so much? The people you just killed, had a family!" Shiori almost yelled at her. The villagers was terrified and no one knew how this would end.

"Why do you care so much about this village?"

"Because... this place is a lot like my home" my grandmother was silent again. Everyone was holding their breath.

"You're a lot like that kid" grandma said with a grin. The whispered started again and I could hear the name "Shizuka" over and over again between the others conversation. I wondered if Shiori's mother was also determined.

"Enough of this conversation. I need to announce something important" grandma showed us the same orb as we saw in the Yamakage building. It laid on a purple pillow that she held.

"We examined Aiko's blood test and it seems that you share genes with both me and my daughter Akemi" I heated up of nervousness in a matter of seconds.

"I came to the conclusion that you came from somewhere else. What we didn't thought of however, that you were from another time. But as we started to study about this orb, we decided that there is no other explanation than that you are from another time"

The whispers became a bit louder. I could hear how they talked about how it was impossible and that we were some kind of imposters.

"This orb has been passed to our clan for years and not too much information has been reaveled. Except for one book that had a simple explanation and that is that orb can take people to different time periods. So our theory has strong evidence, but you have to confirm it" Grandma took a deep breath.

"Are you from the future?" I glanced at my friends who did the same. I finally spoke up and confirmed their conclusion. The crowd gasped once again and shout with shock.

"This must be some kind of joke!"

"How could they have got their hands on it? It's suppose to be hidden with the Shimizu clan!"

"Are they thieves?" Grandma silenced them all with a loud shout.

"I never thought someone would actually try and use it to travel back in time. But seeing the rest of Aiko made it more convincible" Grandma said; "Anyhow. We also know how you can travel back to your time" My eyes widened and grandma nodded.

"We also have developed a serum that will make us forget what have happened these past few days. This is for the sake for the timeline to stay the same" The crowd started to whisper again, this that time it was in a worried tone.

"Everyone will be injected with this serum. Including us from the Yamakage estate" several Anbus surround the huge crowd. They all had suitcases filled with syringes.

"Those who would disobey and refuse to do this" her gaze switched to Shiori for a moment, and she looked back with the same serious expression as before.

"Will sadly get injected by force" the crowd became quite at last.

"Alright alright but how do we go back to our time?" Katsuo was getting impatient. I wanted to slap him for being so hasty but he was at the other end of our lineup.

"Everyone who had used the orb has to touch it and then you will be sent back" grandma explained. We were about to touch the orb grandma held for us, but we got interrupted by my mother.

"Wait! Mother. If it's not too much to ask for. May I ask them a couple of question?"

"Nonsense! You will forget about them completely anyways!" Grandma retorted but mother started to make a "puppy face", which was very similar to what my little sister can do. I understood who Harumiko got it from.

My grandma sighed before giving in.

"This is utterly childish. But oh well. Everyone may ask question to them; but keep in minds that we don't have the whole day!" We turned around to face the crowd and rest of my family.

"My youngest was first, so go ahead"

"Is our village safe in your time?" Mother asked and I gave her a smile.

"Yes. The village is safe and it's larger than what you know of it now" the crowed started to share. It must have been a huge relief for them as in their time, they were at war.

They were a couple of people in the crowd that had raised their hands to ask questions. Grandma choose someone who was not too far away.

"Who is the Yamakage in your time?" I glanced towards my mother and took a deep breath.

"Akemi is the successor" I answered and many were surprised.

"Here I thought my oldest daughter would have taken over, but I do not want to change the future" grandma stated. I knew all the reasons why my aunts have not taken taken the position as Yamakage; but I knew it would take some time to explain.

A brave woman asked about the death punishment in the future. I reassured her that we didn't not have that law anymore. Many of the villagers became very relieved.

We finished everything by letting Akemi and the others have the last question.

"It is confirmed that you're related to us and have similar D. N. A. Does that mean... you are my daughter?" Mother had walked closer to me. She looked me in the eyes and it made me very nervous to reveal the truth.

"Yes" she covered her mouth because of her shock. I felt everyone's gaze on us. Hopeful eyes staring at the moment.

"Wait. Who is the father" Aunt Sakiko asked and mother looked at her sister like if she had offended someone.

"You can't just ask such a thing in public!" I patted mother on her shoulder and whispered.

"Tanaka is the father" mothers voice hitched as her face grew red. She giggled as I retreated my head. She put my hand on cheek and examined her face. Her eyes narrowed as her gaze fell upon my hair.

"Why are you bleaching your hair? If you had your natural color then you would look prettier" It wasn't a rude statement, just a kind mannered suggestion from mother. I laid my hand on her that was still on my cheek, holding her tight.

"This explains her name. Akemi do have a hamster named Aiko" Hisashi and Shiori burst in to laughter as my grandma told us about my mother's pet hamster.

"Do you happen to have another hamster named Kamiko?" Omi asked.

"Yes but it got lost and we found it dead" My teammates stopped laughed immedietly as grandma reaveled the death of a hamster that might have foreshadowed my oldest sister's death.

"I also have similar question!" Masanori interrupted and most of the people sighed, me and mother just laughed quietly.

"Shiori. You never answered my question before!" I didn't completely understand what he meant. I assumed they may have discussed before he arrived at the fight.

Shiori was quite a little while. Making the crowd uneasy.

"The reason I carry your sword is because it was a gift from you. Father" Masanori's eyes widened. He ran up to Shiori and hugged her.

"I-I have a daughter!" His eyes was tearing up with happy tears.

"Oh! Have I thought you the laser kekkei genkai? Maybe you don't have that.. but have I taught you any cool jutsu?" I knew he hadn't done any of it, as I remembered that Shiori's parents being dead before she could have a proper memory of them. I wanted to cover for her as I knew it was an emotional topic for her, however, she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Yeah. You taught me the "flying raijin" jutsu. You also taught me how to use the laser style too" she lied, trying not to make things obvious. Her voice had become deep and raspy. It was a sign she was becoming more emotional and serious. It's not too often that happens.

"Really? That's wonderful!" Masanori grabbed Shiori and my mother's hand. And I grabbed Shiori in my other free hand so we stood in a little circle.

"We have daughters Akemi! And they're good friends like us!" He was jumping up and down with excitement, still having teary eyes. He was more of an emotional driven person, or at least open with it.

Shiori was that too but in a different way. Her feelings was shown clearly but it's more composed, well until she hits the edge.

Mother looked happy at her friend who was proud and happy.

"I have to apologize to interrupt the celebration. I'm afraid we have to say goodbye now" Grandma stated and our happy moment was cut off short.

"B-but!" Masanori got very hasty. There were many things he wanted to say to his daughter before she left.

I turned to my mom who gave me a hug a tight hug.

"We see each other soon. Okey?" She whispered. My breath hitched as she said those words. Mother rubbed my back and let me go of her embrace.

I look d at Shiori and her father who had a fast run downs of things he want to remind her.

"You have to eat properly okey? Also take showers! I can see already you're a bit messy so don't forget to take a bath! Hygiene is important too-" He rambled on whole Shiori maintained her poker face expression. She sometimes nodded and said "mm" while he was talking. They finally ended their "conversation" and Shiori walks back to us and we put our hands on the orb. Our bodies started to glow, and it slowly became stronger and stronger. I looked over my shoulder too see mother and Masanori waving us goodbye.

"Thank you.. mother" I whispered as pure light consumed our vision again.

~~~

When the light disappeared, we ended up in the same room where we found the time travel orb.

I looked around the dark room and nothing seems to have changed.

"We're back! I can't wait until I get to tell Uncle about the advent-" Katsuo was about to storm off but Omi grabbed his shirt so he couldn't get away.

"What have happened in the past stays here with the orb" I stated and everyone agreed except for Katsuo.

"Why?! It's not like it matters, it is the past. It won't change anything-" I punched him in the face, not letting myself being contained. It just snapped me, out of nowhere. I grabbed his collar and looked him in the eyes.

"You're just a simple "bodyguard"! You have no reason to not obey me like that-"

"Snap out of that Aiko!" A small hand held tightly on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder to see Shiori being very mad, but also a hint of worry.

"..." I let go of Katsuo and stormed out off the room.

"Aiko!" I heard his voice but I didn't look back.

I tried to rush to mothers office but stumbled upon my friends when I took a quick turn on the way.

"Ouch!" I used so much force while walking that it made Yumi fall to the floor when we collided. I felt that I became my regular self when I got worried about my friend's well being.

"I'm sorry! Are you alright?" I helped Yumi on her feet.

"Why in such a rush, Aiko?" Fumiko asked as she walked closer to us.

"I need to talk to my mother immediately"

"We'll meet her at the assembly anyways. We have like five more minutes of our break" Yumi filled me in, making me understand that our time hasn't changed at all. It was like it had paused while we were in the past.

I followed them back to the assemble room and sat in the front seats.

The assembly was suppose to start but my mother came late and very stressful.

"I have to apologize but something urgent came up. Our hospitals needs all the support they need. If any of you who are practicing the medical techniques then I beg you to help us. It's a huge opportunity for you to get some experience" mother pleaded.

"But the classes are dismissed. I hope to see some volunteers" Mother stormed off as some other ninjas did as well.

"Fumiko.. are you?"

"There's no argue about that" all three of us rushed to the main hospital, assuming it to be the most stressful area.

"Aiko. You don't know any medical ninjutsu?" Fumiko questioned.

"No but I still want to see what I can do. I have responsibilities too" I stated and she chuckled.

"You're still a little baby in my opinion" Fumiko teased.

"Just because we've known each other since baby legs" I joked back as we dashed towards the hospital.

~~~

Everyone was rushing left and right, monitors beeping, nurses and doctors trying to communicating through the mess.

Fumiko had already rand off towards a direction. I assumed she wanted to check on her mother.

"I'm checking the other levels too" Yumi headed to the stairs and I decided to check through the hospital level by level, starting with the main level.

I checked through the rooms and everyone was busy and in some what control. I felt out of place. I stumbled upon a room where my little sister was trying to heal an old granny.

"Oh it's alright little Shimizu. An old woman like me is happy with everything now" the old woman stated but Harumiko kept on healing.

"You still have to give your grandchild the present" My sister stated and the granny smiled.

"You're so thoughtful" I noticed how Harumiko being short on chakra.

"Let me help you" I stepped in and put my hands over my siste's hands so I could provide more chakra for the healing.

"The Shimizu prodigy? Oh do I feel lucky to meet both of you" the rinkled woman was very optimistic despite the hectic atmosphere in the hospital.

"Thank you so much. I'm sure I can handle myself now girls" she said and gave us a smile. We put away our hands and wished her good luck.

"Which one is next?" I asked as my little sister looked around the hallway.

"I know there someone.. over there who needs-" Harumiko started to cough uncontrollably. Her legs gave in and she fell to the floor.

"Haru?! Is it..?" I looked around caught mother running through the hallway.

"Mom!" Her attention switches to us and her eyes widened. She rush towards us with two medical ninjas. Mother placed her hand on Harumiko's forehead.

"She needs to get treated... you two. Bring my daughters home and treat Harumiko" Mothered ordered them and they both said "yes Yamakage-sama!".

~~~

We immediately put her in her bed to treat her. I sat close to the bed for moral support.

"Aiko.. I'm scared" she had started to shake but her coughing was not as bad as before.

"Everything is going to be alright" I told her as the medic-ninjas examined her.

"She needs immediate treatment before anything gets worse" the male doctor pulled out a big green bag and started to prepare a syringe that was also pretty big.

"Wh-what is that..?" Harumiko's breaths started increase. Something in the back of my mind told me that my little sister had not gotten over of what happened to our village a while ago.

"What does it do?" I asked the and the other, female medic-ninja answered.

"It will quickly fight away the rampaging sickness when it is at its weakest form, however there are some side effects"

"What are those effects?" I asked immediately, feeling that something was not right.

"We have to think about that later, we have to treat the current one because of how dangerous it already is-"

"I-I don't like this..." Harumiko voice was small and scared. I didn't want her to feel that way.

"What if it becomes worse?!" I questioned. But the bearded ninja-medic just shook his head and grabbed my little sisters's arm.

"We don't have time to think about it-" I grabbed both of his arms really tightly so he had to release both my sister and the syringe.

"Lady Shimizu!" The other long haired medic said but I had already started to push away the other ninja-medic.

"You don't understand! If we don't do anything she will get worse!" The man argued but I kept pushing him towards the open door of Harumiko's room.

"You are making her nervous" It was that same feeling I get when I "snapped" a burning rage, but it wasn't unconstitutional. It was more like an containable fury. I had total control of my own madness that I choose to release.

I used a weaker version of my new jutsu and without it's chakra nature, making the man fly out of the room. The jutsu wasn't too strong to actually hurt him. But it was strong enough to make him fly trough the room and out in the hallway. The petite medic was stupid enough to follow the other ninja to check on him.

I closed the door and locked it while both of the ninja-medics was outside. I returned to my sisters side and held her tightly.

"Lady Shimizu. You're sister won't get any better if you do this!" It sounded almost like a roar. It was clear that he doesn't want to deal anymore difficulties, but there I was, being stubborn and selfish.

"She will might die if we don't treat her immediately!" He had started to bang the door.

"Don't you want your sister to survive? Do you want to be the cause of your own sister's death?!" The sentence echoed through my head. It sounded like haunted souls for me.

"Aiko it hurts.." I didn't hear it until then that my sister had started crying.

I made so both of us sat straight up.

"Harumiko, I want you to heal yourself where it really hurts. I will provide all the chakra you need" she put both of her hands over her chest so I put my hands over hers.

"Everything is going to be okey" I whispered as the slamming of the door ended.

"You won't die. I'm here to help, to save you. I won't leave you, ever" I kept comforting her until she was only sniffling and not crying.

"Can you.. promise me something?"

"Yes?" This was the moment I made my biggest mistake.

"Promise to to always be by my side?"

"Promise"


	17. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16 Shiori**_

I could sense that the doctor has also been stressed lately. Probably because of the plague. He had murmured things that was questionable about the whole situation, like: "how could it come to this?"

"I didn't expect it to become this bad so quickly"

"I need to act soon" I assumed he knew more than you even should know about this unknown sickness. I had choose to ignore it however as I didn't have much evidence to support my theory.

"Subject S. Go to the orphanage and get my delivery" Said Doctor Atsushi as he passed the bathroom I was in. I was suppose to take some more medicine but as he disappeared, I sneaked the medicine in the pocket so I could throw them away somewhere else later.

I quickly rushed out of the laboratory and made my way to the building that the doctor requested me to go to.

Isamu had spotted me and quickly walked up to me.

"Are we going train today?"

"no" I become more grumpy after I had been with the doctor.

"why not?"

"I have a quest to do" My answers was quick. I didn't want to deal with the bald kid.

"Can I help you out with the quest?"

"Absolutely not!" As much as I was annoyed by the boy, I did not want him to get involved with the doctor. I didn't know why I even cared about the small kid. He was just someone I trained with I thought.

"Alright lame face" he walked away with a disappointed look on his face before I met up with Nobuo. He was guarding the Doctors delivery, which was a huge chest that had wheel on it to make it effective to transport.

"Doctor Atsushi is demanding very strange things from here" my friend said as I approached him.

"I don't really care. As long as he leaves me alone then I'm happy" I answered and grabbed the handle on the short side of the chest.

"hmm so you're not fully aware of what contains in these chests he has collected?" I never cared what the Doctor did or what his project was. The only thing I ever noticed recently was that he was asking the orphanage for these chests, and I had to be quite about these errands. I didn't care at first but because of my recklessness, someone had known about Doctor Atsushi little talk with the orphanage. It wasn't that much they had heard and it was barely important, however, I still had to suffer the consequences of leaking the small information. I had to once again feel the burning pain of the seal.

After the day we came back from the past, I had read about how the "heavenly seal" jutsu worked and what kind of loopholes existed that could make it a bit easier for my daily life. My friend, Kohaku Uzumaki, is a very smart and clever girl. she reads a lot and learns everyday. I knew the Uzumaki family was famous for the seal technique so I figured that she might know something. She was very skilled when it came to traps and she was the one who made me become interested in it too. I was not as skilled as she was however. She was also one of those weird people of the village that thought I was innocent, that I had done nothing wrong.

Anyhow; I came to the conclusion that I could use jutsu as long as it was senjutsu. My plan was to try to teleport out of the village by using senjutsu chakra. I had taken it easy until then because I had a plan to go out of the village with Aiko. It was something I normally wouldn't do, or have the courage to do; But I still felt that I left her with a bad feeling after the time travel thing. For some reason, I wanted to do something about it. It was a sudden determination.

"Are you okey? you're zoning off"

"Yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking" I explained at started to walk away with the huge chest.

"Please. Take care of yourself. There are more people who cares about you now" I halted when I heard his plead.

"how do you know?" I questioned and he smiled.

"I have my contacts. Some of them has started to care for your well being" I ignored his poor answer and kept on walking, making my back to the laboratory.

I quickly placed the chest in the usual laboratory room where Doctor Atsushi always were.

"I got your delivery so I'm leaving!" I ran out of the room and headed towards the exit; But the sight of the other metallic chests slowed my pace. I noticed that the chests had name plates. I could not pay more attentions to the name as I heard the Doctor shouting at me, so I exited the building and teleported myself directly to Aiko. She was just in her room luckily.

"Shiori? What are you doing here?" She was really taken back by my "surprise" entrance.

"Pack your drawing stuff" I told her and threw a small bag at her. I realized it was the same bag she used when she tried to flee from the village. I had thought she had gotten rid of it long ago.

She looked at me for a moment, having a questioned look on her face. She did as I told her however.

"Are we going somewhere?" Aiko asked and I nodded, trying to focus to let my body absorbs more nature chakra. You could see that her face lit up. She was excited to actually spend time with me, which we never did on our free time. She quickly grabbed her drawing equipments and put it in to her bag.

"So where are we going?" she grabbed my hand which accidentally triggered me to teleport us to the forest where my old home was.

I felt how Aiko's grip became tighter. She looked around the forest with the bigg trees. I also realized that I did not lit up in fire, indicating that trying to use nature chakra when using a jutsu would trick the seal to think I didn't use any chakra of my own.

When we were younger, she was always fascinated about what was outside the village. She wanted to see the forest that she only could get a glimpse of in the distance. We did walked through the forest when we had our exam at the "Hidden lake village" but I assumed she coudn't properly admire the forest as we had a limited time to get ot our destination.

"It's beautiful. Being surrounded by so many trees.." I let her hand go and Aiko immediately started to stroll around the forest. After we walked around for a little bit she asked me why we were here.

"You maybe want to draw the trees here"

"oh so that is why you wanted me to bring my pencils!" She sat down beside a tree and started to sketch the trees in front of her.

"I will be back. I'm going to check on something" I said but she has already lost herself in the drawing. I let her be and proceeded to make my way to the house. The small building wasn't too far from where Aiko was so I was happy that she stopped right there.

I entered the dusty hut and saw that nothing had been touched. I walked to the "bed room" and checked the nightstand. I opened the small cabinet and found the old music box that mother had probably saved for me. I picked it up and try to rewind it but it was a bit slower than the one I played back in time. When it tried to play its melody, it only became a distorted and horrible sound. I knew a friend who could fix it in a heartbeat so I wasn't too worried. I put away the item in a pouch I had around my waist.

I returned to where my friend was and saw her still drawing. She has come pretty far with the drawing. She had made lines for the trees and started to make more details for the forest.

"It's going to be amazing when it's done" a sincere compliment slipped out of my mouth like it was nothing. Aiko is always doing something great but I never praised her because I thought my words was no different from other people from the village; But at that moment, you could see that something happened in Aiko's mind when she heard me say something like that.

"y-yeah. I hope you don't mind that I sit here for a while? I need a bit more time than expected and-" She started ramble so it would look like she wasn't shocked at all.

"It's alright. I teleport us in case if it gets late" I said and sat down beside her. We sat down there admiring the forest amazing atmosphere. The chilling breeze and the sound of the leafs rustling when that same breezee hits them makes it peaceful. the smell of the grass and fresh air was something we were not too used to but it felt like we were free. The presence of the animals that inhabited the area didn't even made us uneasy or anything, they made us feel that we were not alone, and that they accepted our presence there too.

"We should do this more often" Aiko said without switching her gaze from her drawing.

"Mm when we get the time" I said, knowing that it wouldn't really matter. I wanted to do confront Aiko about losing certain memories of events but I knew she wouldn't understand what I meant, or remember…

I felt like I heated up, I didn't know it it was anger or my kekkei genkai but whatever it was, it made me lose it. I tried to contain myself, but I knew it was inevitable. I tried to stand up and make distance between me and Aiko.

"Shiori? What's wrong?" She put away her things and stood up.

"Don't.. come any closer" I tried to say but it felt I just wanted to scream every time I opened my mouth.

"But you need help!"

"I said don't!" I yelled as my body started to transform me in to something hideous. At least, I didn't have to watch myself become a monster.

"Aaaaaaaahh!" I grabbed my head, trying to get the burning pain in my head go away.

"Shiori!" Aiko tried to approach me but pushed her away with a single swing with my arm. It made her hit the tree and leave a clear mark on it after she fell to the ground.

"Are you asking to die?!" I couldn't control my own speech anymore.

"Shiori.. Don't let that side take over again!" She stood up and leaned on the tree behind her. What I didn't understand was that she did not attack me, putting an end to my rampage. She just stood there trying to talk to a mindless murderer.

"This is the real me! This is what I have tried to tell you!" It was a some kind of truth when those words were said; But as always, she didn't want to believe that.

"No. You're better than this! wake up Shiori!" I just laughed at her, until a powerful chakra emitted from the very core of my body. It wasn't the "heavenly prison" seal, it was the Yamakage's seal that was reacting.

"What the hell-?!" golden chains emerged from my back and digged itself in to the ground, immobilizing me.

"Aaaaaaaahh! You can't trap me Akemi! You can't cage me forever!" I shouted as it became harder for me to struggle out from the strong seal. I finally got chained down to the ground. I tried to lift up my upper body as I was lying on my belly, but nothing really happened as the seal was very strong.

I kept struggle and thrashing as Aiko tried again to walk up to me again. She crouched down to make eye contact with me. I just roared at the sight of her but she gently put both of her hands on my cheeks.

"Sshhh. breath" She rubbed with her thumb so I tried to bite her as a response. two smaller chains chained down my snout that I had transformed apparently.

"look at me and only me and breath. Deep breath" She kept comforting me without any fear. Upon looking her in the eyes, I realized that they were glowing in a golden color. Her eyes had become golden and had a brighter gold color irides that had a floral pattern around the pupil. I recognized it as the Shimizu clan's dojutsu.

The golden eyes was connecting me with something, deep down in my body.

I figured it had something to do that I had some of her D.N.A inside me. The glowing effect made me calm somehow. I stopped yelling but still made quite growls. My breath started to be more calm too.

"See? Everything is going to be fine.." my whole body relaxed and I could feel my body turn to normal as the snout shrieked.

"I'm here. It's okay" The chain loosened up but I didn't try to lash out on her. My body was too tired after trying to desperately get myself free. I felt warm tears falling down from my cheeks. I didn't do anything to wipe away the tears either. I layed "lifelessly" on the ground until Aiko lift my upper body so I could lay on her lap.

"You're okay now. Just relax" I was still crying so I probably ruined her pants. She changed my position a bit so I laid on my back instead so I could see Aiko's face above me.

"Why? Why do you keep pursuing me? even in my most insane moments?" It almost hurt to talk because I wanted to hold back my tears, which I failed to do.

"Because that's when you need me the most" I wondered why she would risk her safety just to calm down a monster.

"You're crazy"

"Then we can be crazy together"

"Not a good idea" I said but she just giggled, like if I just cracked a joke. I could barely talk afterwards. I felt so tired and sleepy; But I knew staying out of the village too long would be risky. I tried to stand up but Aiko held me down.

"You're exhausted. rest a bit. I can wake you up" She reassured but I didn't obey her.

"If we stay any longer, your mother will realize at some point that you are missing. We do not want that" I stood up despite Aiko trying to resist.

"Can we at least teleport to your place? So you can get proper rest?" She suggested and I raised an eyebrow.

"What about you-"

"I don't really trust you to actually take a rest either. I'm staying with you so you don't recklessly do something else instead" She teased and stood up. She took my hand and I did my best to focus once again.

I teleported us safely back. I collapsed on my bed, ignoring my surrounding like Aiko trying to talk to me or Chisai greeting me with barks. I felt very hot but also cold at the same time. I also felt so lost mentally, I was barely aware of what's happening. I was aware that my body was moving around; But that was probably Aiko changing my position again because I could have fallen down on the mattress weirdly, I don't really remember but that what was I thought.

I realized I woke up to the next morning as Chisai nagged me to get breakfast for her.

"Me hungry!" The wolf cub was tugging my poncho and I didn't want it to be ruined so I did as the little cub wanted. I walked to the right corner of my shelter where I had three sack of dog food for my companion. I had to ask the Yamakage if I wanted more.

Chisai ate everything up with ease. I had given her a bit less food because of how chubby she had become when I was away to fail the Chunnin exam. She had become more skinnier so I thought I could start giving her, her regular food schedule. I knew She has to be exercising more than just having regular promenades, or else she would just get chubbier again. I tapped her head and she immediately understood we would go for a walk. She was getting all excited and started to bark and wiggle her tail really fast.

I decided to take a walk to the training fields. If I knew Aiko well then she would probably training, which I was right about.

I didn't approach her because I didn't want to make fuzz with the others who worshipped her. I watched her in the distance and Chisai was happy to see Aiko but complained to me why we couldn't go and say "hi" to her.

"But Aiko kind!" She tried to argue but I rejected my cubs plead. I watched as Aiko was training using her new jutsu and her friends admiring her power. She had clearly become stronger with that jutsu of her. I wanted to become stronger for her sake but I knew I wasn't creative or strong enough to pull of a brand new jutsu. I looked at my old sword I had around my waist and got an idea. I knew the village's famous blacksmith so I thought of talking to him to make a new sword, so I could give Chisai my tanto blade so I could also train her in using it. I picked up Chisai and ran towards the blacksmith's.

When I arrived and was about to open the door to the blacksmith, I heard someone clearing their throat.

"so you're also here?" I turned around to see Isamu.

"What are you doing here?" I didn't think a blacksmithery would be that interesting to a kid.

"You forgot already? You broke my only kunai.." I could hear in his voice that he was still a bit upset about our first fight.

"Yeah right…"

"But what are you doing here?" He changed the subject to me but I just grinned.

"Let's go in and find out?" He face brighten up immediately and we both walked in to the blacksmith's. We didn't find the man responsible for the the blacksmithery until an overweight man popped up from one of his furnaces.

"Hi Ki-"

"Shiori!" Kin the blacksmith walked up to me and gave me a big hug. I felt the warmth of the furnace that was still presence from his work.

"How have you been lately? I haven't have time to talk to you" Kin was the closest person that I could refer as a "father", but because of his rising popularity in his skills as blacksmith, he became more and more busier until we didn't have time to meet each other, and upon me becoming a shinobi made the chance for us to talk even smaller.

"Yeah I'm fine" I lied and he frowned his eyebrow in a worried manner. He sighed and scratched his head, knowing he couldn't get too much out of me.

"I see you still hiding your headband. It is a shinobi's pride and joy. It's still around your neck where no one sees it?" I never liked wearing the headband but the Yamakage has nagged me enough to make me wear it; But she never mentioned that it had to be visually so I used that loophole. I wore my head band as a "scarf" around my neck because my poncho was already covering that area so you couldn't see it anyways.

"I'm wearing it at least" I shrugged my shoulders and he just shook his head in amusement and scruffed my hair.

"Is there anything special you want? Or did you just finally have the time to come by?" He asked and crossed his arms.

"I want a new sword" I simply said and his frown changed to worry again.

"Are you sure you can handle weaponry? Because it seems your sight is only available in one eye" He pointed at my right eye and I put my hand over my blind eye in shame. I could hear Chīsai whimper quietly behind me.

"Don't underestimate Shiori! She has beaten me several times and I am no joke. I'm the strongest kid in the orphanage!" Isamu spoke up and exaggerated. Kin started to laugh and wave his hand.

"Whatever you say kiddo! I take your words for it" Isamu made a happy grin as the blacksmith lead us to his desk. He had many blueprints of new weapons laying around the huge desk. My wolf cub sat beside the the desk while we were designing.

"Alright, you have anything in mind about your new sword?" He asked and I explained that I wanted my weapon to be easy to infuse chakra with. He started to write down some metals on the side on the paper.

"And I want the sword to be…both defensive and offensive, but it can only be offensive when I infuse it with my plasma release" It was like if something snapped in him. Kin crumpled the paper and started to search for another blueprint. When he found what he searched for, he slammed it on to his desk and proceeded to walk somewhere else to search for one more thing. I stayed to examine the blueprint and realized it pretty much filled my requirements for my new blade. My attention stuck the word "Lazer release".

"Wow! It's actually pretty cool! Even though it doesn't have a sharp point" Isamu was all over the sketch.

my first thought was that Kin must have designed this sword for someone else long time ago with the same kekkei genkai as me. I looked through more on his desk and stumbled upon a little picture he had on the ledge of the desk. I took the picture and took a close look at it. It was Kin and another guy beside him. I recognize the guy as my father but a bit older from when I met him.

Kin came back with a sword that was basically done. but you could see it has been put away for a while.

"I hope you don't mind that you get this but I think it will fit you perfect!"

"Who is this guy?" I changed the subject and showed the blacksmith his picture.

"Oh, Masanori? He was a good friend of mine, well until he.." I could see that he's mood changed. He must had missed his old friend.

"Shiori. I'm going to reveal something that is important and I understand if you get upset" Kin warned but I was already sure about what he was about to tell me.

"Masanori… He is your father, but he died. I'm not sure how you survived but I feel blessed that you didn't share the same destiny as them" He explained and I pretended to be hurt.

"How did he die?" I asked, hoping Kin had some clues.

"I knew that there were some ninjas who was after him. I imagine that he got caught by them…"

"But how do you know all that?" I questioned.

"Your father sent me letters to keep in contact. So I was updated about his whereabouts; Well, until he stopped sending me the letters" He put his giant hand on my shoulder, feeling more weight on my shoulder than just my feelings.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier? Before we had to stop meeting each other?"

"I didn't know how you would react or feel. You're still a child after all" He stated and I didn't argue about it.

"So… this sword was meant for Shiori's dad?" Isamu asked and Kin nodded.

"Yes. But since he died.. I felt that there was no idea to finish the sword. But when I got to know Shiori and that she inherited her father's kekkei genkai. I thought that I will make it for her instead!" His mood changed for the better, I didn't however. Knowing that my parents died because of someone, made me desire revenge. Kamiko had taught me about how revenge won't solve anything, and it was something I agreed and stood for so I dropped the idea of finding the murderers.

"I will make the sword my greatest masterpiece!" He immediately took the blade and went somewhere else, probably to keep sharpening it.

"So.. both of your parents died too?" Isamu asked, not knowing that some things shouldn't be mentioned.

"Mm apparently" I answered, not giving him any details about how I felt or anything. My companion was tugging gently on my pants. It was Chīsais way of comforting me.

"My parents abandoned me" He started to change the subject to himself, which made me a bit relieved.

"They didn't want me in the first place, so one day they finally left me" there was no hint of sadness in his voice, or frustration. It sounded more like an acceptance.

"So that's why you always acting up? So people can notice you? So they maybe want to know more about you? And maybe then, you could get a friend?" I stated and he nodded.

"How did you know?"

"Such a behavior is pretty obvious. But it's nothing wrong with that" He nodded. He probably understood himself better when I had put it in words.

"You're still young. you'll figure yourself out" I scruffed his hair and he laughed and lazily pushed away my hand.

"You are not from here? Or are your parents actually here so I can do something about it?" I asked and he shook his head.

"We came from somewhere else. We used to live in a really small village. I don't even think it's located on the maps" He explained. I sat there for a while and listened to him talking about himself. I learned a few things about Isamu. I got to know how his family was in details. It seemed like they were abusive, not towards Isamu but to each other. I assumed they didn't have the patience to take care of their own son. He told me also about that his mother was pregnant again before Isamu left, and that he had regrets leaving before his younger sibling was being born.

"So.. one day, I will go back to my family and get my little sibling so they can have it better" his goal sounded almost impossible to me, at least in the conditions he is now. He was underweight because of how bad the orphanage is with giving food to all the children, and he was probably not strong enough to take on his own parents, even if they might not have been shinobis. He was also very reckless, it was his biggest enemy and it could have been his downfall.

"But I need to get stronger first. Will you help me to become stronger?" He asked of the blue and had his fist stretched out. I fist bumped him and made a new promise.

"Thanks big sister Shiori!" Isamu's amd Aiko's voices chanted in my mind.

"Aiko…" I whispered without thinking and Isamu heard it too.

"Aiko? Isn't that girl who is soooo talented?" I heard some kind of annoyance and jealousy in his voice when he said that.

"Well she is very talented" I admitted and he tried to shrug it off.

"If we were in the same age then I would be a lot better than her!" He bragged, knowing that there were no backup for what he said. He was a kid who dreamed to be strong, it probably made him too arrogant and thought that he was better than anybody else automatically.

"Why so sure?" I asked curiously and he zoned out to think of an explanation.

"What makes you different?" I asked further and his brows frowned.

"Because… I actually have a dream..?" He sounded hesitated but it was an interesting statement.

"You don't think she has a good dream?" I asked and he is shook his head slowly.

"She only wants to have a high status because of her family! That is not a real dream. You're forced to become something that everyone else has pushed you to!" He explained and I understood his point of view. I however, already knew what Aiko's dream was, and that was having a "real" family.

"My dream is something that you have to work hard for, and it's for a good cause" he continued. But got interrupted by the blacksmith.

"Look Shiori! Your new sword!" He pulled up the sword who has been sharpened and polished.

I grabbed the sword and felt it's weights. I swinged and slashed the air to check if I could handle it effectively, which I could. The blade was double edged with no point, almost like a tantō but the sword was longer, making it to be sword in the first place. It also has a decent handle that so I could have both of my hands on. Chīsai was excited about my new weapon so she barked loudly and wiggled her tail very fast.

"Thank you very much for the sword Kin!" I thanked him as he also gave me a nice scabbard for my new blade.

"I think I have the money for that too-"

"You don't have to pay! Seeing you is enough reward for me!" He patted my shoulder and went back to his desk.

"Now that you know… I think you want this more than I do" He returned to me with the picture in his hand. It was very small compared to his hands. Kin was pretty much a giant teddy bear in a human form.

"Are you sure? Isn't dad important to you too?"

"He is an valuable friend of mine, but he is your father! And that is a bond that no one can compare with" the blacksmith handed me the picture of him and my father.

"Kin… thanks, I promise I'll make it up someday" Another Promise was made, but it was one that I couldn't keep.

"If Masanori was here.. He surely would be proud of you" Kin reassured and switched his focus to Isamu.

"Are you here for a weapon too? Or are you here for Shiori's moral support?" He crouched so he could be in the same level as my little friend.

"Yes! I want a special designed kunai!" He demanded and we went back to his desk. They started to design while I was busy examine the photo. My father had a little more hair and it was really messy, he also had grown a little beard, I assumed it had just started growing it. Father was probably in his young adulthood. I thought about how many knew my father. When I was in the past, people seemed to see him as annoyance, Lord Yamakage and her sister acted that way towards him at least.

"Two months?!" Isamu yelled and scared me out of my thoughts. Even my companion got a bit startled.

"If you want a good quality dagger, then yes!" the blacksmith strictly stated and my bald friend grunted. He muttered a "okey.." under his breath and Kin got happy with the answer. I looked at the blue print and realized it was awfully similar to a blade I've seen before.

"Oh well. I have to go back before any of the nannies gets worried. I promise to pay you next time I visit!" Isamu quickly teleported from the blacksmith so I was alone with Kin.

"Doesn't that blade look like Kamiko's sword?" I questioned and he nodded.

"It is smaller however but it's still a bit bigger than a regular kunai see it as a dagger as it has a curved edge" the blacksmith explained and I rolled with it.

"So how's the life of a shinobi going?" We walked up to a where the kitchen and a "meeting" table was. We sat at the table to socialize. Chīsai wanted to sit on my lap so I let her.

"It's sucks. I didn't even graduate to Chūnin…" I told him and he got a worried look.

"I'm sorry about that! How come you didn't graduate? Did something happen?"

"I wasn't good enough, duh" he didn't like my tone so he scolded me that I shouldn't degrade myself like that.

"Everyone has a different pace. Only because it takes more time for some people, doesn't mean that they are weak or stupid" He laid his heavy hand on my shoulder for reassurance.

"If you just do your best then I am sure that you will be a great guard for princess Aiko!" I flinched when I heard that the blacksmith remembered my old dream.

"I have given up on that long ago.." I admitted and Kin's eyes widened.

"Why? You were so determined to be able to protect her-"

"She is a lot stronger than me now. There is no reason for me to be her guard!" I argued and almost yelled it out. He sat up from his chair and then lifted me up, making Chīsai jump off me. I was little compared to Kin, so he had no problem carrying me at all. He looked at me with a stern look on his face, he almost looked mad. He then hugged me tightly, not letting me go anywhere.

"What matters is that you are enough for the one you protect. I'm sure princess Aiko would be happy to have you on your side" he started to swing from left to right, making me calm.

"But I'm not. I'm not enough to be there for her-"

"If not, then you will be. You just have to keep trying" he convinced me and it was at that moment I had a change of heart.

"She will be there, waiting for you. You will stand there by her side, with your sword, ready to protect her" I thought about Aiko and how she had changed since her older sister died.

I thought about the things I shouldn't have blamed her for. I would have got messed up too when I lost someone close.

I felt tears threatening to be shown but I tried to contain myself the best I could. It was almost to no avail.

The picture in my head of an old childhood friend made it hard for me to have a straight face.

"Shiori! Let's go and play outside!" Her voice echoed through my mind.

My childhood friend's name was Natsuko. She was one of my first friends after Kamiko and Aiko.

She was also the daughter of the kind nanny that didn't judge me of my kekkei genkai. Me and her daughter became close friends, Natsuko always followed her mother to her job so she could see me.

"Don't forget your dreams Shiori. No matter how hard it might get" Kin's voice snapped me out of my flashback. I let myself cry on the blacksmiths shoulder.

"It's alright. It's not easy when I couldn't have been around for you either… I'm sorry" I held Kin tightly. I must have looked like a giant baby back then.

"It's alright… thank you for everything Kin" He put me down and I felt Chīsai stroke her head on my leg.

"I need to get a move on. It was nice seeing you"

"You made my day and I couldn't be happier! Take care!" Me and Chīsai exited the blacksmithery and made our way home.

"I'm sorry that you had to wait so long" I apologized to my cub and she barked with a happy tone, indicating that she didn't mind.

We only made it halfway until I heard a familiar annoying voice that shouted at me.

"Hey you! Monster girl!" I turned around to see Katsuo and my companion started to bark at him.

"Hm? You're actually alone? What do you want?" I was a bit curious why he would call out for me. It was clear that he didn't fancy me that much.

"I… need advice" he averted away his gaze as he was blushing. I couldn't figure out why he wanted advice from me so he had caught my attention.

"Advice?"

"Yes! H-how do you get Aiko's attention?" My eyes squinted as I was beyond shocked of his stupidity.

"You're asking how to get Aiko's attention from someone who tries to avoid that" I stated and he scratched the back of his head. Probably realizing how stupid it sounded.

"Well you are the one she often talks about" He said and I sighed.

"Sure sure but I don't know what makes her actually listen. And you clearly don't have any difficulties drawing people's attention anyways" I rolled my eyes and he looked suspiciously at me.

"What does that suppose to mean..?"

"Remember that bonfire we had not long ago?" I knew he did bald and stupid things but what he did back then was unholy.

"Yeah?"

"You ate three marshmallows that was on fucking fire!" I reminded him and he started to grin.

"Gotta show the ladies how hot I am!"

"That's not how Aiko works. Shinju seemed to be interested though" I retorted, knowing that Shinju had a thing for the samurai boy, which made me concerned.

"Oh that hot chick? She is cool but I focus on Aiko" he said admittedly. I turned serious and walked closer to him so I could grab his should and make him focus on what I was suppose to tell him.

"If you want to get closer to Aiko then you have to grow up. She is above your league. If you don't know how to treat a princess then you have to rethink" He looked lost at first but he then became pissed. He even pushed me away.

"You are also like that! Everyone keeps telling me to be so formal and all just because she has a high status! She is a human too you know! I have seen that myself and I feel sorry for her that she has to be so "perfect" all the time just so everyone else is satisfied!" The way Katsuo talked convinced me that he was determined to be with Aiko.

"You weren't joking…" I whispered.

"What you need to do is act on your feelings. You're using a facade too to impress Aiko. Be yourself and show that you care for her. And then maybe she finally see you as her bodyguard" Was my final hint before I took Chīsai and teleported us home.

"Home!" My companion cheered and jumped on the torn sofa.

"From tomorrow on, I will train you so you can also be able to protect yourself" I pat her head and she seemed to be excited because of how fast she wiggled her tail. I sat on my bed and lifted up my pillow to reveal a very old contract. I read it through quickly, even if I knew the paper word by word. It was guard contract that would have made me Aiko's guard if I had signed it. I got it long ago, it was right after I had accidentally killed my childhood friend. I felt I had no rights to become a guard if I couldn't even protect my own friend, so I ended up never turning in the contract.

"I need to get my shit together.."

I had thought Chīsai how to use a kunai. She "held" the weapon with her mouth so she had a steady grip when she attacked someone. Using only claws and fangs wouldn't cut it for the cub when it came to surviving, especially when a real wolf have never taught her to fight. I decided it was the best to train my companion in a way where it is effective for the both of us.

I stood on my knees so it was easier for my friend to practice attacking me. The training was went very smooth and you could see clear progress that Chisai made. She had already found a way to have a steady "grip" on the kunai so she wouldn't drop it easily in combat, and her speed has been increased through the training.

"That's enough for today Chīsai!" I sat down and the wolf cub drop the kunai and laid down on my lap. I ran my hand through my hair and felt it has grown a bit. I decided that I should cut my hair.

"You follow me to the barber?" She barked happily and stood up quickly. We made our way to the barber and the first thing happening when I entered the building, was hearing a very high pitched voice screaming at the top of their lungs. The other staff and customers went silent.

"Calm yourself Shinju! It's just a new customer!" It's was Shinju who had screamed for her life. She stood behind her mother who had her back against me so she didn't see me at first. The others seems to go back to their own business after the sudden yell.

"No mom! It is that monster!"

"What are you babbling abou-" her mother turned around and her eyes slowly widened as her gaze landed on me.

"Shiori?" She said and her lips turned in to a smile.

"Shinju! You should be more respectful towards your older cousin!" Her mother scolded and both me and Shinju screamed "what?!" At the same time.

"What do you mean with cousin..?" Her mother walked up to me and put both of her hands on my cheeks.

"I've been planning to meet you since I got the message from Kin last night. I tell you the story while I fix your hair! I assume you came here for cutting your hair?" The strange woman said and I nodded. She led me to a chair and covered me in a cloth to prevent cut hair to mess my clothes.

"How do you want you hair?" Shinju mumbled under her breath as she sat on the chair beside me.

"I want to shave around the head and leave some hair on the top front" I explained and she happily started to make tails on top of my hair to indicate where she shouldn't shave.

"I should start to introduce myself. I am Yuriko, Shinju's mother. Our clan the Hōshasei is a close relative to your fathers clan the Kesshō clan. Our family is grateful that you survived and we would have loved to take you in but… there has been debates in our clan if we really should do that or not. We are trying our best so you can have a proper ho-"

"I'm fine. You don't need to" I interrupted and she hesitated shaving.

"Are you sure? I thought your conditions was rough?" She questioned but I shook my head.

"I'm satisfied with how it is. Thank you for your offer"

"hmf! Ungrateful bastard…" Shinju retorted and her mother scolded her. I could hear my companion quietly growl at the spoiled brat.

"Anyways. The reason we did not interact with you earlier is because it was.. an order from a doctor. We have however decided now that the doctor should not scare us anymore and that we would gladly help you. If you ever feel that you want to escape somewhere then you are welcome to our home!" She started to shave and fix my hair.

I thanked my aunt and paid for the shaving and left the barber saloon as fast as possible so Shinju couldn't bother me.

"Thank you for waiting Chīsai. Do I look cool now?" I asked my companion and she barked happily.

I decided to get some food for us by buying some fries at my favorite fry fries stand. While eating and feeding Chisai, I heard someone yell at me again, but it was not the annoying kind of yell that time.

"SHIORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII" Hisashi rushed to my side and just leaned himself on me for comfort.

"I have a feeling I have no choice but to listen to you-"

"I WAS NOT INVITED TO AIKO'S GIRL SLEEPOVER!" He interrupted before I even could embrace myself for his ranting.

"... You do not think it is because.. you are a boy?"

"But I'm gay!" my teammate argued that had no reasoning whatsoever.

"That doesn't make it acceptable for you to be involved in a GIRLS sleepover"

"I'm still hurt!" I let him half cry on my shoulder for not being invited to an event.

"oh by the way. YOU are invited" He said and turned to normal in second. Like if nothing earlier had happened.

"I guess I don't have a choice there either"

"nope" He said goodbye after he was done doing his errand. I finished eating and suddenly, I felt one of the Shimizu feeling terrified. Chisai barked at me as she also noticed that something was wrong. I sensed that it was Harumiko as the chakra was not too big. I quickly teleported to my friend with Chisai. I saw Harumiko who was in a dead end alley. I also sensed my cousins chakra nearby, but was quickly disappearing away from us.

"What are you doing here? Was Shinju here?" I asked and I could clearly see in her eyes that she was still scared.

"No.." There was no argue that she was hiding something.

"Do you want me to report to your mom or?"

"No don't do that! please!" She begged and I demanded an explanation.

"We.. we were just talking"

"About?" I was waiting for her, I had the time wait for her.

"we were talking about Aiko" My heart skipped a beat. I knew that Shinju was not trustworthy, but that she even might backstab Aiko was worrying.

"What did she want with her?" I followed up with more question and she started to sweat.

"Sh-she wanted to know something about her-"

"Like what?" I pressured her and she started to breath heavily.

"About her… weakness? I haven't really told her because I don't know if my sister even has any weakness! She is so incredible-"

"Why would you even consider keep talking to her then? and why would you even want to give out such an information?" I tried to stick to the subject.

"because.. She would reward me with information about Kamiko" My eyes widened as Shinju even would do something like that.

"No one has ever explained to me who that girl is, and everyone keeps comparing me with her! I'm tired of it and I want answers" She desperately explained herself.

"Shinju is not the person you should trust about with that information. Harumiko, you must avoid Shinju. You can't trust her" I warned her and she swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"Okay.."

Hi, the author here. I will change the publishing scedule to only once a month instead of once a week, as the past chapters has actually been written before hand. A chapter can take 1 to 2 month/s (give or take) for me to write. I hope you enjoy the story so far!


	18. Chapter 17

"I use a lighter metal because I wanted the puppet to be fast but also have some protection" He continued explaining his idea around his masterpiece.

"I have no offensive mechanics except for a small hidden blade in his forearm. I will upgrade more weapons soon when I get more parts!" His puppet landed between us and I could take a closer look at it.

"You really have become more skilled in this field! I'm really happy for you" I praised Aki and his passion and he got a big grin on his face.

"Well, if my brother never had shown me this interest then maybe I wouldn't have been a shinobi" he explained and it got me curious. It wasn't often he talked about his older brother.

"Yeah.. how long has it been now?"

"Five years now" he had lost his older sibling, just like I had.

"I wished I could thank him for what he had passed down to me. I really miss him…"

"Yeah I know how that feels.." I accidentally said and Aki looked at me suspiciously.

"Well sort of. I miss my older sister a lot. She has been traveling for so long. She is probably learning from all sorts of people and have seen many beautiful places" I covered it up and it worked out.

"That's true! It will be so exciting when Kamiko comes back. Maybe she even have spare parts I could use!" I gave him a fake laughter.

"Oh! I also have one more thing I want to show you!" He went to one of his closets and pulled out a metallic board with two propeller thingies on one of the boards side.

"You can use wind nature chakra, right?" He asked and laid the board in front of me.

"a little? why?" I questioned.

"I want to you to stand on the board and make it fly!" I looked shocked at him and then at the board.

"I'm not sure if I can but I'll try my best!" We went outside to try out the board.

I stood on the metallic board and started to focus my chakra on my feet and then trying to channeling it to the board. I felt the propeller starting to spin so I increased the chakra but it fail. It ended up that the board gave up and stopped. I tried again but failed over again.

"Darn it!"

"It's alright! I can adjust it further so-"

"No" I interrupted him and he took him by surprise.

"It's not the board. I just need to practice more on my wind style" I excused but he was aware that something was off.

"If you say so! I'm gonna work more on my other projects. I see you later!" He dashed off with the board while waving me goodbye. I decided to go back home and see how Harumiko was doing.

I was still worried about if the parasite had got her, even if I had scanned through her with my doōutsu and didn't find any trace of the sickness.

I immediately walked to her room when I arrived home. She was on her desk, drawing.

"Hi Aiko" she greeted without turning away from the paper.

"Hi. How are you?" I asked and she said she was fine.

"What are you drawing?" I sat on her bed, trying to have a conversation with her.

"I'm drawing something for Sumiko" Sumiko Uzumaki was one of Harumiko's best friends. She has fallen ill of another sickness that didn't have anything with the current plague to do. If I remembered right, she has been sick since she was little.

"I'm sure she is going to love it"

"Me too!" She put down her pen and then tackled me in a hug. I pulled her down so we both laid on her bed.

"How's the academy?" I asked my sister and she shrugged.

"It's alright. I get bored easily because I already know so many things that they teach us" She said and played with her fingers.

"At least you got your volunteer works"

"Yes! I don't know what I would do if I didn't get to help around the village" We didn't have so much time talking like that with each other. I was always training and she always had work so we were busy all the time.

"It will be more exciting soon when you will graduate!"

"Yeah! I hope I get in to the same team as Emi and Sumiko. We are going to be the best team ever! even better than yours-" She kept talking about her plans with her future team. I didn't care that she teased me about becoming better than me. All I cared for at that moment was her well being, and just listening to her. It felt like I could lay there forever.

I went back to my room after bonding with my little sister. When I opened my door, I saw Shiori standing in the middle of my room.

"Shiori? What are you doing here?"

"Oh there you are are" She kept looking around, searching for something. When Her gaze laid upon my unused kunai sword, she grabbed it and threw it to me without a warning. I grabbed it panically as I wasn't ready for the catch.

"Let's go"

"What? Where-" she teleported us without answering me. I looked at my surroundings and realized that we were in the training grounds.

"Why are we here? Are we.. going to train?" My heart flared up with excitement when I realized I finally get to spend time with Shiori.

" I'm going to teach you how to use a sword. You barely use any weapons when you fight" My friend stated and she did have a point. I looked at Shiori and noticed that she carried two swords. one of them was her ordinary tantō blade, and the other blade was unknown to me. I then looked at my own swords and felt guilt crawling up my spine. The kunai sword didn't feel like it was mine yet.

"I.. I don't know if I can use this sword" I said and Shiori rolled her eyes.

"I knew you would say that" she took my sword and gave me her tantō blade instead.

"Borrow mine for the moment" She said and put my sword to the side.

"Alright so what are we going to start with?" I tried to style a little by slashing the sword randomly.

"We are going to work with your stance"

"... my stance?" I knew that posture and techniques was important but I didn't have the patience when it came to training.

"Your stance is very important. It determines how much you're in control, how fast you can move and how soon you will retire" She explained. She almost talked like the teachers in the ninja academy.

"Your feet has to be apart, about a shoulder length. Your dominant foot should be positioned slightly forward, almost square with the opponent" I changed my position to how Shiori told me to.

"Your body should be relaxed and springy with your knees slightly bent. This stance will keep your center of gravity low and central, which will keep you balanced when you are moving" I mimicked the small motion and really tried to feel the stance so I got used to it.

"That's very good. Now on to how you hold your blade"

"You need a stance for that too?!"

"Of course! You're nothing without weapon control!" She scolded me as I didn't argue back.

"You don't hold the sword like those stick you used to play with when you were little" I mumbled as Shiori teased me about my old habits in my earlier childhood.

"Only your thumb and the two first thinger should have a proper grip. The rest of your fingers should be loosely curled around the hilt. Hold the sword slightly out in a parry position" I corrected my arm position and waited for further instruction.

"Your arm has to be relaxed and be in line with your forearm. Change the angle of your arm so you feel a certain weigh" I adjusted my arm and felt a nice weigh on my shoulder and a bit on my triceps.

"You feel it? Those are the muscles that will be working the most while training"

"Now try to cut down with the sword. Move the entire blade and don't waver your arm" I did as I was told and felt how nicely I cut in a straight line.

"To stop your own attack, you snap your third and fourth finger on the hilt. Your elbow will reflexively lock in place. It works like a brake" I tried the method and it worked effectively.

"I'm gonna learn this in no time!"

"Now I want you to keep your stance, slash and retreat to your stance" She ordered me and I arched my eyebrow.

"Alright? I do that" I did as she told me. I took my stance and then slashed forward, retreated my stance, or so I though. I immediately got tripped by Shiori who used her legs to make me fall.

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

"You didn't do the stance right when you retreated" She said and I had a feeling that Shiori would be a very strict teacher if she ever became one.

"Okay. I'll do it again" I tried again and received a low sweep again.

"Oh my god!" I tried over and over again and got low sweeped more times than I set my foot in to the kitchen. People had gathered around the training field we were at and spectated our training. Shiori usually didn't like when there was too many people around us, but this times she didn't seem to care. She was only focusing on my training.

Some people thought it was funny and interesting, and other thought it was unfair and that Shiori treated me wrong.

I didn't care too much. I finally had time to spend time with my best friend. I gladly let her mock me around while training.

"Stop doing that!"

"Give her some slack!" The crowd yell but neither of us cared. We kept doing what we were doing.

My mussels on my arm and legs started to ache; But I didn't want to stop. I wanted to succeed before I paused.

I tried one last slash, and I didn't fall. I still stood up in my stance. I had done it. I looked at Shiori who stood by my side. She looked at me and then smiled.

"You did it correctly" I dropped the sword and almost to the ground again but Shiori caught me.

"Maybe I was a bit too harsh?" She teased and I shook my head.

"It was fun anyways" I looked around us and realized that everyone was cheering and applauded us.

"I think they want to celebrate your great training. I'll see you soon" She took the tantō blade and I grabbed her arm to get her attention.

"You're coming tomorrow night for the sleepover?" I asked and I looked into her eyes, hoping to get the answer I wanted.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" She put her hand on my cheek and then teleported away.

I had never felt so satisfied in a long time. When I had finally made the right motion that my comrade had taught me, it was incredible.

"What a training!" Fumiko and Yumi ran up to me and congratulated me for my effort.

"I'm so tired.. But it was worth it!" I took the kunai sword that was on the ground.

"I think she wants you to be able to wield it" Fumiko said as I looked at the sword.

"You think so?" I asked.

"It is your sisters sword after all. I think Shiori want you to keep it safe until Kamiko comes back" I flinched and thought quickly to play along the lie my family had created.

"Yeah you're right. It just feels a bit weird that I use it" I still felt that I wasn't worth using the giant blade, and that was probably the reason why Shiori wanted to train me in the first place. She didn't say it herself however. But her intention was obvious.

"Aiko! That was intense!" Kamiko came rushing towards us. It was probably the first time when Katsuo didn't lash out a bad comment about my comrade.

"Can't I sword fight with you?" He asked and I had for some reason, felt to be extremely sassy towards him.

"Hmm I don't know. I'm don't want to have a warm up right now" everyone around us made a "ooooooh" sound, but he wasn't faced by it. He smirked instead like he always does. It usually irritated me but that time, it was more funny, almost playful.

"I think it will be more than that!" He withdrew his wooden katana.

"You can do it Katsuo!" I saw Shinju cheering for the samurai. It took me by surprise as she usually "picked" my side. But then again, she had a huge crush on me. I felt a little disgusted how she could fall for such a reckless boy.

"Another time samurai boy. I'm busy anyways. I have to prepare for tomorrow night. It's a girl night!" I teased and every girl in the crowd was screaming in excitement.

"And no boys"

"I HATE YOU" I could hear Hisashi, still being upset about being uninvited.

"You're missing out big times! It's not fun if I'm not in it" some of the boys in the crowd laughed but I shrugged it off.

"While you guys are playing around, I will do more important stuff" I took my sword and started to walk away the the training field. Fumiko and Yumi followed me.

"Do you want us to help you out?"

"That would be really nice of you!" I accepted their offer and we made our way to my house. As fast as we arrived, we started to prepare the living room where we all would spend the most time the whole sleepover.

We had put mattresses for everyone and some air mattresses. We only had two of those.

"Are Eri coming over too?" Yumi asked while put some sheets on the mattresses I did invite Eri because I knew it was something she needed. She was misunderstood by the adults like most of the teenagers are.

"Yeah she said she would join"

"I'm surprised she wants too. I haven't really seen her outside of her house if she is not out on mission" Fumiko stated

"She just need someone to talk to" I said as I went downstair for more sheets. As fast as I came back, my friends took them started to do the mattresses immediately. They are a helpful bunch. Fumiko and Yumi had such a good patience to me and my bullshit. They are so respectful and understanding.

"Why were lord Yamakage so busy so you actually would be able to host a sleepover?" Fumiko asked as I checked the fridge.

"She is planning the yearly carnival masquerade"

"Already?!" We talked about how fast the time passed. Our "famous" carnival is always held in the middle of the spring. It's probably one of more exciting moments in our village, except for the ninja rank exams.

I realized we were out of chips and soda. I had to limit the soda because of Shiori being easily addicted to sodas.

"Nerds. We are out of chips and soda. but we have a giant stockade of popcorn and chocolate" I told my friends while I wrote on a sticky note what we needed.

"How can you run out of the most important things for a sleepover?" Yumi stated.

"I'm sorry that I prioritize chocolate over everything else in my life" I answered and bumped my hips against her to gesturing it was just a joke. I received a giggle from Yumi from my little gesture

"Watch those hips hips honey" Fumiko teased and I had to take a deep breath. Fumiko had a habit to flirt with me. It's just teasing but sometimes it can be a handful. She hasn't flirt-teasing me for a while since her mother fell ill. I saw the joke as possible sign that her mother was getting better.

"Yeah because it's not obvious at all that you stare at it" Fumiko scruffed my hair as we all went out again and strolled over to the markets. There was a certain stand that sold specifically chips bags and she had all kind of different flavours. Mother questioned were he traded in his goods but he said it was a secret and that he traded with a trustworthy person.

"Are there any specific flavor we should take?"

"Not really. I want a mix of everything" We started to grab different flavored chips for the party. I accidentally took many sea salted chips. I knew it was Shiori's favorite so I ended up taking a handful of them.

"Thought you didn't want a certain chip flavour.." Yumi teased as she probably also knew why I took so many chips of the same brand.

"haha yeah I didn't really think about it. But it's good you guys took variety!" we walked up the the owner of the stand and paid.

"That's a lot princes! Having a party?"

"haha it's more like a sleepover"

"It's fun nonetheless!" The salesman was optimistic and kind. Not all the salesman were like that. They are more nice if I'm around. It was a privilege that I felt uncomfortable about sometimes. We proceeded with our business and went to another stand that was more of a snack stand so it had variety of different snacks like chips, popcorn and chocolate etcetera. We bought the popcorn we wanted and walked to the soda stand.

"If we buy too many then no one is going to sleep"

"Don't worry, I didn't plan to sleep anyway!" I said and Yumi just looked at me with no expression whatsoever.

"I'm not surprised but I'm still worried about you"

"you're so sweet. You know that?" I put my arm on her shoulder to gesture that she didn't need to worry about me, while I picked some soda cans. We didn't buy too many, but enough for the night. We paid the sodas and finally walked back to my home.

"This is going to be so fun!" Fumiko cheered as she closed the door for us.

"I'm also excited. I hope everything will go smoothly.." I said and put the chips and popcorn in the snacks cabin.

"I'm sure it will be fine. It's just some girl having a little sleepover" Yumi reassured me as she put the sodas in the fridge.

"haha.. yeah" I still worried about Hisashi doing something stupid because I didn't invite him. I thanked my friends for the help and said goodbye to them. I went to my room and saw Harumiko playing with Kamiko's sword. The silhouette of Kamiko made me gasp so my little sister noticed me. She quickly put back the sword in panic.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to play with it. I just wanted to feel how it was to hold it!" I hugged her and told her it was alright.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I was just surprise to see you in my room" I explained and sat on my bed.

"Do I have to be in my room when you have the sleepover?" She asked and I scruffed her hair.

"Of course not! you can be with us too. They don't mind you being around. They like you too" I kissed her forehead and she walked back to her room happily.

Me and my little sister poured chips and popcorns in to bowls. Fumiko and Yumi was the first girls to arrive.

"Do I also get to eat snacks?" My little sister asked as she took a little chip.

"Yes but don't eat too much" She ate the chip quickly as I had said yes. After we finished setting up, I sat on the sofa with the other girls.

"Shouldn't the others be here soon?" Fumiko asked and I shrugged.

"It's like two minutes left and-" I was cut off by the door that opened.

"Shiori! you should have knocked!"

"You didn't let me teleport so I'm busting in to the house if I want to" I went to the hallway and saw Shiori and Kohaku.

"Shiori! K-Kohaku! You could come after all?" Shiori patted my shoulder and went to the living room.

"Well of course! I can't miss out an event like this" She gave me a quick hug and we walked to where everyone else was.

Fumiko and Yumi had a conversation with each other and you could clearly see that Yumi kept glancing at Shiori, who were being silly with my little sister.

More and more people start to one over and we all surprisingly fit in the living room. The living room was connected with the kitchen and "dining" room so we got a pretty big space to fill. Everyone was talking with each other and had fun. Even Shinju and Eri looked pleased.

There was one more knock that I didn't expect. Everyone was a bit shocked from the unsuspected knock from the main door. I went to open it and Talia and Etsuko bust in to my house, well it was mostly Talia.

"SHIOR! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT WAS A PARTY?!?!" I didn't invite those two in the first place but I knew they didn't do any harm.

"I'm sorry for just busting in like this but we wanted to ask if we could join too?" I welcomed them in and followed Etsuko to the living room.

No one seemed to mind that they were here. Usually the "normal" kids and the orphan kids had a scuffle against each other.

"Alright girls! Wanna play a game?" Shinju announced and most of the girls chanted "yes!".

"Let's play truth or dare. Naiya, truth or dare?" Naiya and Shinju were close friends so it was obvious that she would ask Naiya.

"truth"

"you're boring" Shinju teased and Naiya she stuck out her tung.

"What do you think about Katsuo?" The samurai was the only thing coming out of her mouth, and inside too probably.

"He is pretty cool. But he is annoying sometimes"

"He is the only fun person in this entire village" I always questioned her behaviour, but no one has really told her to anything so I didn't do anything about it either. I only have interfered when she tried to bully Shiori and Aki.

"Alright my turn-" The door got bust open again and I rushed to the door. As I made it to the door, I saw Omi who had kicked up the door.

"OMI!!!"

"You didn't tell me you had a party!" they had a bag that had sleeping things in it and it made it harder for me to decline.

"Because it… it's just a girls nights and…" I tried to explain to them but the words got stuck in my mouth instead.

"ah.. I understand" Omi really seemed down when I said that.

"I'm just going back to the motel then.." They slowly made it to the door with a obvious pouting lip, making me have a guilt trip.

"Omi, wait!" She stopped and looked at me.

"Let me ask the others" I went back to the living room and everyone stared at me, quietly.

"Okey guys so. There is another friend of mine that wants to join. is it okay for you guys? they will be sleeping in my room" The girls looked at each other and then they all agreed to let Omi in. I returned to the door to bring Omi to the other girls.

"Alright nerds. This is Omi-"

"They broke my arm in the chunin exam!"

"They almost killed me!" Everyone was blaming here and there and Omi wasn't even phased by any of them.

"Guys calm down! I'm sure OMI didn't mean any of it?" I sounded a bit harsher just so Omi would understand that I wanted them to play along.

"Yeah. The exam put a lot of pressure on me so I made many rough decision" They said and the girls started to whisper with each other.

"Sure you can be here I guess…" Shinju eyed Omi with a disgusting look on her face.

"Nice! So what are you guys doing?"

"We are playing truth are dare!" Harumiko ran up to Omi and hugged them. They had been getting along very good recently.

"Sounds fun. I'm in!" They took a pillow and sat on the floor beside Shiori and Kohaku.

"Back to where we paused" Naiya started.

"Omi, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Naiya had a grin on her face that made me a little uneasy. She could be as toxic as Shinju.

"I dare you to drink water upside down" It was silly but it wasn't something too dangerous.

"easy peasy" They went to the kitchen and took a glass of water. Shinju and her crew started to giggle. Omi walked on the wall and further to the roof. The water was still in the glass despite being upside down. The girls looked shocked at Omi with the glass of water that broke the law of physics. Omi drank the water without spilling a single drop.

"Done!" They jumped down and put the glass on the counter.

"My turn! Shiori, truth or dare?"

"oh boy… Truth" Shiori didn't look too cheerful.

"How did you and Aiko meet?" I quickly looked at Shiori who frowned. I wasn't sure if it made her uncomfortable or not. I was about to make an excuse for Shiori but she answered anyways.

"I'm friends with her older sister so we eventually became friends too-" Shinju and her group burst out laughing.

"you? Being friends with Aiko's big sister? yeah sure-"

"They are friends. That is why I have known her for so long" I backed her up and everyone looked shocked at us, but they also believed us.

"I didn't know that!"

"It does make sense"

"That's pretty cool" I smiled as many of the girls started to become more open minded towards my childhood friend.

"She could be lying. Nothing is confirmed until Aiko's older sister comes back and confirms it" Shinju looked at me with a grin on her face.

"She will be home soon. Don't worry" I was gambling with my lies at that point.

"Fumiko. Truth or dare?"

"Truth" I thought Shiori wouldn't interact with people she didn't know too well but she seems to break those barriers.

"Does your brother ever offer you alcohol?"

"Yes and I decline everytime" She joked and everyone laughed. We all had a blast until the clock hit the midnight. Everyone was getting hungry for food and luckily. Me and Harumiko had a plan B.

"I make some food for you!"

"Awww!" everyone thought that my little sister was an angel. They were right but there are also sides of Harumiko that shouldn't always be triggered.

"I can help you make food-" I stopped at my track as my little sister stared intently at me.

"No. Absolutely not"

"I could just help out with the easy-"

"No. I'm not in the mood to set the house in fire!" Me and my sister was jokingly arguing with each other.

"Come on it's not that bad!"

"You almost set Yumi's microwave on fire"

"No I did not-"

"yeah you did" Yumi admitted and I could hear Shiori laugh at the back.

"Just sit and relax with us Aiko" Shinju offered and I kinda had no choice but to sit with her group for a moment.

"So Aiko" It felt weird to feel uncomfortable at my own house. The only times that happens is when mother wasn't on the mood.

"How is it going with Katsuo?" Shinju asked, eyeing me.

"good I guess? he is just my bodyguard after all" I explained but she didn't believe me.

"Didn't look like that yesterday" She stated and I got very confused as I didn't understand what she hinted at. I didn't have done anything usual with Katsuo, except for that one night but no one should have known about it.

"What do you mean? He was just his usually annoying self" I explained myself.

"But you act differently. You used to turn him down and almost ignore him, but now you actually listening to him? You keep up with his "annoying" personality and even plays a long at times" I was stunned to hear what Shinju had claimed. She was partially right but it was not like I want to be with Katsuo.

"Alright? well I'm getting used to him living here but I still don't want to be around him more than necessary" I explained myself but she was not buying it, I could see that in her eyes that was squinting with doubts.

"I don't want to think of you as a shady person" I felt very offended when it was clearly who was the shady person. I had to contain myself so not a huge drama would occur.

"So I will take your words for it. But if it shows up that you are what I think you are, then we will have problems" She smirked and then gave me a kiss on the cheeks. I felt disgust but slapping her face was an option I turned down. I took a deep breath and tried to let it go.

"Honey!" Fumiko's voice snapped me out of my inner frustration. I looked her way and she had a smile on her face.

"It's fun that you react when I call you that" She teased and I was happy for once that she did do that.

"Yeah whatever. What is that you want?" I walked up to her, escaping from Shinju's grasp.

"It's Shiori" Fumiko whispered and I snapped in to a more focused state.

"Where is she?"

"Your room" We rushed to the room and I tried to open the door as quiet as possible. I walked in to see Shiori being bound to several chains and seals, and Kohaku sitting the opposite with a stretch out hand, trying to hold the seals.

"Is everything alright?" I checked on Kohaku first, who seemed to be very focused.

"Yeah. We just noticed that something was up with Shiori. She then said she wanted to be restrained. But it will be fine! I can do this. She should be calm soon" I could see that she was sweating. Kohaku couldn't keep up the seals for too long. I looked at Shiori who were slowly turning into a wolf like creature. I could hear quite growls and heavy breathing from her. She tried to contain herself, as she didn't not roar or scream.

"Let me help" I walked over to Shiori who stood down on her knees and crouched back, making her face being very low to the ground. I had to grab her face gently and try to lift her up so we were in the same level.

"Shiori. I'm here. It's me, Aiko" She didn't try to look at me directly and instead stared at the ground.

"Please looks at me. Everything will be fine" My black haired friend slowly tilted her head up so she looked at me.

"Just take deep breaths. I'm here with you. You can make it" I activated my Gōrudegan and my eyes started to glow in a golden hue. I breathed slowly so she would do the same pattern and she did it.

I could see something in her dark brown eyes that seemed to also glow, but it was small and barely visible. It synced with my glowing and her breath became slower and calmer.

"See? Everything is fine" The seals around her body disappeared and I caught Shiori while Fumiko caught Kohaku who were exhausted by holding up the seals.

"You did great Kohaku"

"Th-thank you. I need to sit down a bit" Fumiko helped our red headed friend sitting down on my chair.

"Aiko. Thank you" Shiori whispered and I pat her head.

"Don't worry. You can rest for a bit on my bed" I carried Shiori to my bed and let her rest.

We waited for a bit for the girls to regain energy and then went back to the living room. The rest of the girls had transformed the living room into a huge spa. Some girls were doing their nails, others made face masks, some other girls had foot baths.

"We were gone for ten minutes…" I whispered in shock. I noticed that Harumiko had made hamburgers and fries for everyone and was impressed with how fast she could make food for everyone. I walked over to my little sister who served food on the free counter we had in the middle of the kitchen.

"Thank you for helping me out" I gave her a hug and she kept holding my sleeve even after I pulled us apart from the hug.

"What did they mean? Did I used to have another older sister?" My heart raised faster than a chidori because I had not been aware of what I said during the game.

"I can explain later. There is a lot of people right now and it's better to talk about it when we are alone" I excused.

"You said that last time too.." She spoke so quietly so I barely heard anything so I let it slip while I walked back to the other girls.

"oh Aiko! Let me do your nails!" It was Eri who called me over. I went to her and let her trim my nails only. I wasn't a big fan of putting nail polish on my nails.

I ended until talking with Eri and some other girls for a little while.

"Aiko. May I ask you something?"

"Sure. Ask away!" Eri and I hadn't really a proper talk after that day we ate dinner with them. So I thought it was good opportunity to get to know her.

"How did you become this strong? I mean, you were almost promoted as Jōnin" flashbacks of my intense training I had since the death of my older sister flew past my vision.

"A lot of training! I always try to become better for my friends sake" It was a pretty honest answer I gave her.

"So friends are your biggest motivation?"

"I guess you could say that" I glanced at Shiori who ate burgers with Yumi. Suddenly, Shiori frowned, and seemed very focused. Yumi was confused as me. Shiori took her hamburger with her and walked up to me.

"It feels like there is more people than it should be" I assumed that someone would attack us so I became more sharper.

"Can you identify their chakra?"

"One of them is Hisashi-"

"I FUCKING KNEW IT" I yelled and Eri almost jumped out of her seat.

"Nerds. Avoid the flood" everyone clinger themself to the wall or the roof. I used "Chidori stream" on the floor and several of my male friends appeared.

"How did you guys get in here?!" Hisashi pulled out a key that I recognized very well.

"I got the spare key" He said while the guys got up from the floor.

"What- How. Why?" I couldn't think straight as I tried to figure out why he would have spare keys to my house.

"Your mom gave it to us in case something would happen. We are your teammates so it would be effective to give us the key"

"ah yeah I do have one too" Shiori also pulled out a pair of spare keys to my house and I had to take a deep breath to process the situation in my head.

"You guys are not invited for OBVIOUS reason and I need you to go now-"

"Come on Aiko! We won't mess up the house!" Katsuo argued but I knew it something you couldn't count on.

"I think it would be fun if they stayed for a bit?" One of the girls said and I knew that more would agree.

"They're not that bad!"

"They don't have to stay the whole night"

"It will be fun!" They arguments raked in and I had no other choice but to agree. I was pretty sure they wanted the guys to stay because of Hisashi.

"Sure… you guys can stay" I said and everyone cheered. The girls jumped down from the floor and landed on the boys so they got hurt. I wanted to laugh but I knew it was inappropriate.

"That was for peeking at us, you perverts" Naiya stated.

"Why didn't you crash Hisashi and Takayuki?!" Katsuo asked.

"Because they're gay and are in a relationship" Fumiko corrected as the girls got up off from the boys. The night went on very smoothly. Nothing too crazy happened. It was Katsuo that wanted to do something daring but people stopped him so

I was happy. I decided to get some fresh air so I walked out to my balcony and saw Shiori and Talia talking with each other.

"Oh, hi Shimizu" Talia greeted. She seemed very tired.

"Everything is fine here?" I asked, wanting to indulge in a conversation with them.

"Yeah, everything is fine-"

"She is too scared to tell her crush that she likes her"

"Shiori for fucks sake!" Talia scolded and I agreed it wasn't a good idea to spill that out for bluntly without her permission.

"Oh? Can I ask why you are doubting?" I knew Talia wasn't too fond of me but I still wanted to be polite because I knew she was pretty close with Shiori.

It took a while

"I… I'm afraid she will think it's all weird. girls liking girls and stuff. You Shimizu wouldn't understand" She stated and I pulled my chair closer to Talia so I could grabbed her shoulder and look her in to the eyes.

"Both my teammates are homosexuals. My closest friends are lesbian and bisexual, my little sister is bisexual, Shinju is totally bisexual by the way she also flirts with her close friend Naiya, Aki and Takayuki are bisexual, even your friend Hitoshi who claims to be straight acts very unstraight with Nobua and he is open to ANYONE. I'm theorizing that I might be the only straight youth in this whole damn village. I pretty sure you are fine" I told her and I felt that she wanted to shrug off my grip but I felt it was important for her to know she is not alone in this matter.

"I guess.."

"You two are very good friends also. I don't think anything can go wrong if you confessed" Shiori states and Talia snapped.

"I could lose her as my friend!"

"If Shiori's clams is right, then I'm very sure your friend wouldn't leave you for being honest with her. Even if she doesn't return the feelings then I'm sure she still want you in her life" I tried to reassure. My opinion about that situation might have been invalid because I have never been in a similar situation. I've never struggled with my sexualities, or with love life in general. She was quite for a moment, probably deciding her decisions.

"Alright. I tell Etsuko how I feel when I get the courage" I gave her a smile, gesturing that I was happy for her sake.

"I'm going back in with the others. It's.. pretty fun with the others" it was nice knowing that also Talia tried to be kind to me even if she wasn't fond of me. Her act might be because of how Shiori have also changed. She walked inside and left me and Shiori alone.

"You're not going to join Talia?"

"I need more air" Shiori states and took a deep breath.

"Who is that boy who bothers Yumi all the time?" She suddenly asked. I did notice a guy who had been abnormally close to Yumi. You could tell that she wasn't liking it.

"I'm not sure who he is. I only know they have recently started to hanged out with each other more and more" I told her and I only got a "hmm" as an answer.

"Are you jealous?" I teased.

"No. But I got bad vibes from that boy" she stated. I didn't know the boy personally so I couldn't really judge.

"You care a lot about her too now?" I said, not meaning it in a negative way.

"Mm. But you're still the one I still have to keep an eye on" she teased my recklessness which I didn't mind.

"They're starting to understand you. I think the others will be more respectful towards you" I told her and she chuckled.

"I rather live a quiet life where I can take care of the ones I love, instead of living with the fame and recognition of everyone and be useless were everyone does things for you" She stated.

"I want to do meaningful things. I can't do that right now however, but maybe in the future I will be able to do that" Shiori rarely talked about what she wanted to do, or what her goals was. She always went with the flow and didn't really care where she ended up at. Knowing that Shiori has something in mind for her future made me proud of her. She really had changed for something better. I randomly noticed that she had a another haircut. She had shaved everything except for the hair on the top of her head that still "long". She could change her hair style by just combing it on a certain side. She could come it to the rich and left side and even have a cool backslick if she wanted to!

"Nice haircut!"

"I had that yesterday too you know?" She teased and I had to think twice.

"I didn't notice then! I was too excited to train" I admitted and Shiori chuckled. I wanted t stay longer like that. I didn't want the night to end. I pulled myself together so I could check on the other girls.

"I'm going back in. Are you joining?" I asked and she shocked her head.

"I'm staying here for a bit longer" I proceeded to walk inside and stumbled upon Yumi.

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to check on Shiori"

"She is alright but she is sitting over there if you want to chat with her" I winked at Yumi and her cheeks turned red and she slapped my arm playfully while she walked outside.

I examined the room and saw that some of the boys tried the spa things that the girls had brought with them. I decided to join a group that sat on the sofa. I sat down with Hisashi and his boyfriend Takayuki.

"Thanks for letting us join Aiko" my teammate patted my back.

"I didn't really had a choice" I teased.

"Is Shiori okay?"

"She has been outside for a while"

"She isn't sad, is she?" My friends concern about Shiori proved even more that they have started to care for Shiori.

"She is fine. She just wanted some fresh air" I answered.

"So Aiko. How's your love life going?" Eri asked and I shrugged.

"I'm not interested in someone and it's nothing I really focus on" people were very fond of if I had crush on someone or not. I didn't understand why rushing to get a partner was such a huge thing.

"That's sad. You deserve someone on you league" a loud "ugh!" Was heard from Katsuo who sat on the sofa on my left side. Everyone's gaze switched to my bodyguard.

"I mean that she should be able to date who ever she wants to! the guy doesn't have to be classy and fancy you know?" He explained himself and Hisashi to the opportunity to tease.

"Doesn't worry Katsuo. We said someone of Aiko's league, not over her league" I slapped Hisashi's arm as the group laughed.

"Remind me why I haven't killed you yet"

"Because I'm the best teammate you have"

"After Shiori"

"Fuck off" My friendship with Hisashi is probably 90% sarcasm and shade. We suddenly heard the sound of electricity outside. My first thought was that it could have been a storm, but I then realized it was a clear sky when I was outside.

"Leave her alone, Jun!" I heard Yumi's voice as a blast went off.

"You better have your boys is check" I said to Hisashi as I stormed off of the sofa with my teammate close behind. We rushed outside to the terrace and the first thing I saw was Shiori who was laying on the grass close to a tree. She had injuries from the blast we heard before. Yumi and an another boy stood close to the terrace.

"What the hell is happening over here!" I yelled and Yumi was about to say something but Jun as the boy was named, interrupted her.

"That scum tried to touch Yumi!"

"We were just holding hands!" Yumi defended Shiori as she stood up shakely.

"Aiko, I thought you were mature enough to not invite such a furious being in this party!" The boy had a the gut to start scolding me for inviting my best friend to MY sleepover, which was supposedly to be girls ONLY.

"The ones who was not supposed to be here are you boys and I'm allowed to invite my best friend!" I answered and Shiori tried to make her way to us.

"Don't come any closer you hideous beast!" Jun created an electric spear and then threw it on Shiori and a blast occurred.

"Jun! Stop it!" Yumi grabbed the brown haired boy but he shook it off.

"This girl is dangerous and are in the way of us!"

"She is not! No wonder why dad introduced you to me! You're just like him and doesn't let me choose who I want to spend my time with. I rather spend most of my time with someone I feel comfortable with than an acquaintance that I'm forced to see with!" Yumi literally exploded on the boy and the pieces in my head started to click.

I started to remember that Yumi said that her father had made Yumi see with a boy she barely knew and was highly check on so she didn't wander off to Shiori. It sometimes became so strict that Yumi had to ditch me and Fumiko for that stupidly rich boy.

"Then I make so you don't have to ever spend time with a monster!" Jun was fast and appeared in front of Shiori in a mere second. He started to punch her but she avoid them but still got hit at times. I knew she could easily teleport a short distance to avoids the punches but she did not do that which made me confused, I knew it took barely any chakra from Shiori if she teleported a meter away. my black haired friend grew exhausted and couldn't keep up with her "rival" anymore and finally got a hard punch right on her forehead so she fell backwards.

"It's about time someone did it…" Jun took out a kunai and kneeled down to Shiori's exhausted body.

"This is not good" I quickly glanced at the terrace where I thought Yumi was, but she wasn't there. I looked towards the scene again and saw Yumi grab Jun arm roughly.

"Yumi? What are you doing?!"

"Don't you dare touch her" Her voice turned low and raspy, it was almost unrecognizable. She twisted the long haired boy and he screamed in pain. You could practically hear his bones twist. Jun fell down on his knees as more pain surge through his arm as Yumi twisted his arm even further. She then kicked him so he fell on his side. She wasn't done however, she got closer to the boy and my mind told me had to do something before it was too late.

"Yumi! That is enough" Yumi were one of a few people I knew that could match my speed, so I couldn't slack on a situation like that. I could feel everyone's tension and no one expected the outcome. No one knew that Yumi could lose her patience like this. It was a Yumi that no one had seen before up to that moment, not even I knew.

With the help of the body flicker technique, appeared in beside Yumi. I grabbed her arm to prevent her from doing anything too hard, or so I thought I did.

"Not you too" She shrugged it off and swiftly made the hands signs for "chakra scalpel" and used that Jutsu to cut my muscle tissues of my limbs. She didn't even have to use all the hand signs as I couldn't even counter or try to cancel her jutsu.

"Y-Yumi?" I fell to the ground as I lost control of my own body and became immobilized. The others became terrified of Yumi and was too intimidated to do something, not even Fumiko knew what to do.

"Don't interfere" She walked back to Jun and I tried lift my upper body so I could get in to a sitting position but I did not succeed with that as it was very difficult without your legs as support. I looked up to see Shiori finally standing up. Shiori held her and made Yumi look at her.

"What the hell are you thinking with?!" Shiori voice was loud enough to make some of our ears ring, making the crowd even more scared.

"I.. I just want to be able to be with the person I care about. I want to make my own decisions!"

"Your imprisonment should never be taken out on others! Anger and violence will never set you free!" Shiori scolded and shook Yumi to her senses.

"It's true that you should fight for you freedom but this is not how you do it" I started to feel my limbs again so I slowly tried to get myself up.

"I want to be able to spend time with you without people judging us" Yumi's voice became softer and more calm somewhat, even if you could hear some frustration in her tone.

"We don't have to care about them. I've said it several times and I know it's not easy, but I want you to try if you really want to be with me so much as you claim" Shiori never liked conflicts that involved the social society, but at that moment she finally stood up for something she didn't not agree on and stood up for a friend.

"Shiori. I'm so sorry-"

"Don't apologize to me. Apologies to Aiko and Jun" Shiori ordered and Yumi walked up to me first and gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry for attacking you like that"

"I forgive you.." Yumi did get out of hand that night, but I wanted to give her a second chance as I knew that it was a behavior that we barely witnessed.

She walked up to Jun and apologized, and then whispered something in his ear and then he took a step back. I immediately assumed she might have threatened him. Shiori noticed it too but didn't do anything about it so I didn't either.

A loud clap came from Hisashi who got everyone's attention.

"Let's go boys. It's enough fun for tonight" he stated and the crowd got disappointed. The boys started to blame Jun for ruining the night, and the girls became sad that Hisashi had to leave.

"Awww do you have to go already?"

"Can't you stay a bit longer?"

"The night is still young, Hisashi!" I thought it was unrespectful of some of the girls who flirts with Hisashi even though they know he is homosexual. You can't change someone of who they are.

"Lets go boys" In a mere second, all of the boys was gone.

"let's go back in" I opened the door to let everyone in. Yumi immediately sat on the sofa to calm herself and the girls crowded around the white haired girl to comfort her

. I realized that Shiori was not among them so I looked outside and saw her and Talia talking again.

"Does that shit happen often?"

"No, not at all-"

"This is not good for your mental health 'cuz thats gonna affect your kekkei genkai!" They're whispering was failing and I could hear them pretty clearly. I felt it was a discussion I shouldn't be stepping on. I returned to the rest of the girls and walked up to Yumi. I sat beside her and hugged her as comfort.

"I think you should tell her soon" I whispered She pushed me away immediately and looked terrified at me.

"You know I can't do that" the girls started to murmured among each other.

"She deserves to know or else she will believe that she didn't mean anything to you. Shiori noticed too that you are with Jun and we all know it's not what it looks like but Shiori doesn't! She needs an explanation" I encouraged her and everything went silent.

"So you do have a crush on Shiori?"

"I'm not surprised"

"It was pretty obvious" Yumi started to blush as she heard how many knew about her "secrete" it was too obvious to be a secret anyways.

"I'll tell her… but not now when she has seen me like that" she hugged herself as if she would lose control again.

"I think it's good for you too that you open up for her. She has never experienced romantic love. When I think about, I don't think she knows what love is… but she is lucky that a lovely person like you to show her what that is" I teased Yumi and bumped my hip in to hers.

"I just hope… dad won't mind her"

"Wait, what's with your dad?" Another girl asked and Yumi started to explain the situation about her father not liking her hanging out with Shiori. Me and Fumiko knew about this prior to the sleep over.

"That's outrageous!"

"That's a bit possessive…"

"You're allowed to hang out with Shiori if you want to!" The other girls were very supportive of Yumi's love interest. I wasn't sure of if it was just for her sake or if it was for both of the Yumi's and Shiori's sake.

"Are you guys talking about me?" Shiori just came in, in our discussion about hers and Yumi's relationship and everyone tried to make an diversion. Some girls literally laid or stood awkwardly in the way of Yumi and tried to avert Shiori's attention.

"Nothing!"

"Just boring gossiping"

"Let's get something to drink!" I suggested and dragged my friend to kitchen. I tried to make small talk which Shiori as we got our-self some soda.

"So how are you? Is the party fun?" I felt stupid for asking immediately as I remembered she was attacked not long ago.

"It's alright. I got electrocuted twice so that's something" she said sarcastically as she took a sip of her soda.

"I shouldn't have let the guys in.."

"It's not your fault" Shiori argued.

"You don't control the boys behavior. Right?"

"Yeah you're right" Shiori was logical to me, it made my mind clear up a bit when I need it. We chat a little in the kitchen until Yumi peaked in.

"I'm going to sleep now. You can still sleep with me in my sleeping bag so you don't have to sleep on the floor"

"Wait, you're sleeping on the floor?" I interrupted and looked at Shiori who shrugged.

"Yeah. I checked the sleeping places and calculated it was one missing. So I figured I sleep on the floor" She explained and I internally face palmed myself as I had forgot to prepare a sleeping place for Shiori.

"And that is why I offer you a place to sleep" Yumi stated and I switched my gaze between my closests friends.

"We are playing the last round of truth or dare!" We heard the girls shout I wanted to join. I looked at Shiori and Yumi.

"I'm not sure. I said I would go to sleep-"

"Come on. It's the last round, then we can go to sleep. okay?" Shiori encourage her joining and it worked.

"Sure" We went to the living room and sat on an unoccupied sofa. Fumiko and Omi later joined in on our sofa place.

"I want to start!" Fumiko excitedly asked and went ahead to start the game.

"Yumi! Truth or dare"

"Truth" Fumiko glanced at her and Shiori and then smirked.

"Do you have a crush on someone? In that case, are they in this room?" Yumi flinched But it was barely noticeable.

"Yes, and they are in the room" She answered honestly. Everyone started to jokingly question who it was, even though everyone already knew for sure.

I questioned Fumiko's choice of question for Yumi so I whispered to her and asked her about it.

"Because now, Shiori knows that Yumi is not interested in that boy who attacked her before" I credit Fumiko for being so clever to hint to Shiori about Yumi's feelings without revealing too much.

"Talia. Truth or dare?"

"Dare! Come up with something good" Talia teased.

"Eat a spoon full of fire style sauce" everyone in the room gasped and looked horridly at Talia.

"We don't touch that" I warned.

"We don't touch that" Harumiko said as a second warning.

"Well I'm touching it!" Talia rushed in to the kitchen to find our spiciest sauce we had. While the other searched for the sauce, I prepared the mills and took out the biggest bowl we had. Talia examined the small bottle of the "fire style sauce".

"Shiori, try it first"

"What" Talia handed the bottle to Shiori who just looked at her in disappointment. I gave my teammate spoon and wished her good luck.

"This is not Shiori's dare!" Yumi protested but Shiori reassured her it was fine and that she oils do it anyways. She took a tablespoon full of sauce and put it in her mouth. Everyone was silent to see her reaction but nothing really happened for a moment. Shiori finally went to one of our cabinets to get a glass and then filled it up with milk so she could drink it.

"Yeah that was more spicier than I thought" was the only thing she said before putting the glass on the counter, barely being faced by the spicy-ness of the hot sauce.

"Alright if you can do it, then so can I!" Talia took the spoon and bottle and let herself shove a "big" chunk of the sauce in her mouth. It took a moment but she finally swallowed it.

"This was not so bad" five minutes after, she ended up lying on the ground with unbuttoned shirt, trying to drink milk from a giant bowl.

"I didn't think you had it in you Yumi. You're good at this" Talia used to only use Yumi's last name too, but they have recently got along better so she has started to use her surname. Shiori might had a hand on that. I hoped it wouldn't change too much after what Talia saw.

"I knew this wasn't a good idea…" Etsuko commented but Talia just laughed.

"But I made it and it was totally worth it" we kept the game going even thought everyone was in the kitchen surrounding Yumi's teammate.

"Well some of us have fewer brain cells than others.." Shinju said and Yumi slapped her arm.

"Don't be rude!"

"Whatever you say. Its your turn Talia"

"Shiori! Truth or dare!"

"I basically just did a dare-"

"You get dare for resisting"

"I fucking hate you" the both girls argued, making it hard to know if they were just teasing each other or not.

"I dare you to kiss the cutest girl in the room! Except Aiko because everyone goes gay for her anyways. Talia states and I didn't know if I should've taken it as a compliment.

"That's not true" I laughed it off but everyone was quite.

"Well I'm not denying it" Fumiko admitted and I lost all hope in humanity.

"Aiko-"

"You actually think I'm cute?!"

"Move you're in the way of Yumi" Yumi blushes furiously as I tried to decide if I should choke someone or not. I didn't know if I should be relieved or offended, I didn't know what to think to be honest.

Shiori pushed me aside and grabbed Yumi's face gently and leaned in to kiss her. The kiss was rather cute as Shiori had to stand on her toes to reach Yumi. Shiori was pretty short compared to her. Everyone was screaming cheering as the dare turned out successfully.

"Why is everyone so hyped about this?" Shiori clearly didn't understand the meaning of the situation.

"Because you guys are really cute together. I said and but Shiori just shrugged.

"Mm I guess" we kept playing for a while until people started to grow tired and the clock had hit four in the morning. The girls started to prepare them self for bed.

I decided to apologize to Shiori again for not preparing a sleeping place for her, and she reassured me once again that it was fine.

"So.. what do you think of Yumi?" I asked, trying to sound none suspicious.

"Hmm well. I don't know? She is a very nice friend but.. it's not the same compared to others? It's something different with her" I glimpse of hope ignited as it seemed as it was a step ahead to make them come together.

"Is it in a good way?" I asked and she nodded. Wanted to explain what love and crushes meant, as no one had really been there to teach her about so it would makes things easier for her to realize what she actually felt about Yumi; but then again it wasn't my business. I just want Shiori to feel happy that she deserves.

"The "bed" is ready now!" Yumi called for Shiori and we said goodnight to each other before heading to bed.


	19. Chapter 18

I was pondering a couple of days and realized that I had no defensive jutsu in my arsenal. The "flying thunder god" jutsu can be used "defensively" but it was only because it was so versatile.

I had started to train myself to make a barrier with my plasma release. It wasn't perfect yet and it took a lot of my chakra to use, which made me able to only practice it once a day. Having the seal the doctor gave me didn't make anything easier. I had to focus to charge up natural energy before even trying to use my jutsu to not set myself on fire. It was tedious to practice, not that I practiced too much before I got the seal…

Chīsai has become even better to handle my old sword. She was even capable of switching side of the blade in mid combat.

I ended our training and scuffed my friends head. I felt hard stubs on her head, two of them on each side.

"Are you.. growing horns?" I asked and she barked and wiggled her tail. I took the gesture as a yes and had to figure out what creature my companion is, if she wasn't an ordinary wolf. She didn't seem to be confused so it had to be something that was suppose to happen.

"Wind style: flower scattering dance!" A gust of wind blowed from the other side of the fence. The wind messed up Chīsai's fur so she shook it to look better. We climbed up the wooden fence and sat on top of it. On the other side of the fence was Harumiko and her friends practicing. The little Shimizu noticed my presence immediately and and caught my gaze.

"Hi Shiori!" Her other friends turned their attention to me too.

"Shiori!"

"It's been a while since we last met!" The trio greeted me and I jumped off the fence with Chīsai right behind me.

"I have an idea! Can't we fight Shiori as practice?" Emi suggested and I was about to decline but the other girls was excited to fight against a real shinobi so I couldn't deny them.

"Kohaku says that you're excellent to battle against!" Sumiko was healthy for once. Kohaku works so hard to get money so she could pay for her little sister's medication. Seeing Sumiko so happy and lively was a great sign that her older sisters hard work has paid off. Her eyes was full of life, even if she looked tired with those little tinkles under her eyes.

"I guess I have no choice. Are you going to fight me one at a time or is it going to be three against one?" They switched glances with each other and then formed a little circle to talk strategy. I couldn't hear through their whisper but it wasn't long until they made a final decision.

"It's three against one!" Emi announced and they formed a triangle formation in front of me. I went to my side and prepared for the fight. Sumiko did the countdown.

"Three, two, one!" A storm of shurikens was thrown at me by the three kids to distract me. I quickly countered the shurikens and I noticed that Sumiko tried to sneak pass me. Our eyes connected and she realized she had to do something. She dashed towards me before we would have clashed, she used the body flicker technique to reach over my head. I received a hard kick from the red haired girl when I tried to look up.

I grabbed her leg and swinged a round, then throwing her towards her teammates who caught Sumiko with no harm. The first sign of their fighting was teamwork and care. It could be they're downfall however. In some mission, some sacrifices might occur and then you can't prioritize like they did.

Sumiko immediately recovered her balance and all three of them faced me again. Both Harumiko and Emi ran towards me with a kunai each on their dominant hand.

"Arrf!" Chīsai threw my old blade so I could use both swords to protect myself. Both girls went on par with my sword fighting which was very impressive as my kenjutsu skills had been improved greatly the past few weeks I have had my new sword.

I took my opportunity and flipped my sword to grab the blade itself. I slammed the hilt on Emi's hand so she dropped her kunai, then I flipped my sword again, grabbed the hilt and tried to land a hit on Emi. My blade was just a decimeter away from the girls neck until it collided with a water sword instead. Harumiko had transformed her water kunai into a sword.

"The waters density is impressive. It must take a lot of chakra to sustain its hardness" I could see sweat drops run down her cheek. I knew she couldn't use big weapons for too long.

I switched my focus to the little Shimizu and tried to tier her out so she couldn't use her water weapons any longer. The water started to disperse but I got hit by a sudden gust that sent me flying through the fences. The dust from the crash prevented me from seeing my opponents, thanks to that, I was not prepared to be caught by a water whip.

"But she shouldn't be able to?!-" the water whip dragged me back to the field and I got smashed in to the ground. I tried to stand up but felt more restrained than before. I looked down at my body as saw that I was also covered in seals that held me stuck. I then looked forward and saw Emi readying shurikens that was on fire. If I had moved an inch, then Harumiko would have electrocuted me and Emi would shoot me with fire shurikens.

"I thought you were low on chakra, Harumiko"

"I pretended to be exhausted and dispersed my weapon to lower your guard" the kids had tricked me, but I had one plan left. Being still gave me the chance to charge a bit of natural chakra, I used it to teleport behind the little Shimizu and drew my blade close to her neck.

"I think I win" I joked and put away my swords.

"It's almost unfair when you can teleport!" Emi complained and I argued and complemented how they did caught off guard, which is good an important in any fight.

"It's good that you care and have each others back, but you girls have to be prepared that there will be very difficult situation where you can't always do that" I taught them and they stood there quietly, thinking through my words.

"What is the meaning of being in team if you can't protect each other?" Sumiko stated and the other girls started to back her argument.

"I do not have an answer to that yet" I admitted honestly and they looked at each other. They then swore to protect each other in any situation anyways and ran off somewhere. I gave the tanto sword back to Chīsai and put it in to her own customized scabbard that Yumi made for my wolf companion. The scabbard was strapped on to the side of Chīsai with the hilt of the sword close to her head so she had quick and easy access to the sword. I told Yumi it wasn't necessary but she is it anyway and made Chīsai very happy. I was sure that my companion fancied Yumi more than her own owner, it was ironic but I didn't blame her. Yumi is something special, she cared for the weak.

The thought of her made me feel empty and sad. I hadn't been able to really speak with her since the sleepover at Aiko's place. She even had to send her older brother so she could deliver the lunch boxes and have a stable communication. Yasushi was okay with me and we even became decent friends.

"You seem to be in deep thoughts. The training fields is not a good place for such things" thinking of the devil, Yasushi sat on the fences that did not break by my practice with the girls.

"I'm fine. I was about to leave anyways" I excused myself but the white haired boy insisted to listen to him.

"Or you could help me buy my little sister a new harp?" I arched my eyebrow and thought to myself why the older boy wanted my help with such an easy task.

"Why do you need me for that?"

"It's good to have more than one opinion" I wanted to argue about it but I knew Yasushi wouldn't take a "no" as an answer.

Me and Chīsai went to a shop specific to sell music instrument. We talked to the clerk and asked for his finest harps. The salesman took us to an area that was filled with different harps in different sizes and designs.

One harp in particular caught my eye. It was small handheld harp that had the typical "heart" shaped form with white silver paint on it. It was also covered in a wind style design detail.

"There were more than I thought! Which one "screams" Yumi the most?" I immediately picked up the gorgeous harp and showed it to Yasushi.

"That was quick? Shouldn't we look around a little?" I took a quick glance through the area and didn't see any harp that looked interesting.

"This is the only one that caught my attention. I think it would fit her perfectly" I stated and examined the silver harp. He played a short little melody, it showed that he has played the harp a little himself.

"Well it is beautiful, no doubt! I trust you on this one" We bought the harp and the messy haired boy thanked me for the company.

"I wished you could come by and see Yumi's reaction. She would be really happy to know that you were involved choosing her favourite instrument" I did miss his sister a lot. I would usually denting trying, but something inside me told me I should do it, that I should pursue. I obeyed my feelings and came up with a plan.

"Can't you lure her in to her room so I can sneak in there? Then we both get to see her smile?"

"I like your thinking! Let's go!"

The window to Yumi's room was located at the back of her house, so I hid behind some bushes in their backyard. I waited for Yasushi to get her in privacy. It took a moment before the window to her room opened, it was the indication that I could sneak in. I climbed through the window and surprised Yumi. She was about to shout my name but she caught herself and covered her mouth.

"She has missed you a lot" Her brother whispered as she hugged me tightly.

"I miss you too" her brother poked her shoulder and she turned around to see her older brother holding her new harp.

"We both went to the music instrument store and Shiori helped me to decide your harp" You couldn't really tell if she listened because her eyes was locked on her new harp with exciting eyes.

"It's so beautiful.. I can't believe you have dedicated your time just to give me this. You're always so busy big brother, and you Shiori, we can barely meet each other anymore. This means a lot to me!" Yumi threw each of her arm around Yasushi and my neck and gave us a half hug.

A shout from the other side of the door, it was a manly voice.

The window waa still open so I quickly jumped out of it before their father could see me. Chīsai quickly ran toward me from a bush she had stayed hidden. I was lucky she didn't bark, or else I would have been discovered. I quickly escaped from the Nomi clan's house as quiet as possible.

I became upset with myself that I couldn't say goodbye to Yumi before rushing out of the room.

My hectic running session got interrupted by the doctor who I accidentally ran in to, literally.

"Subject S. I need one more chest for my experiment" He didn't greet me or anything, just went straight to the task.

"Again? Don't you have like, seven of them now? They're also very huge, how are you even able to run out of materials when the chests are that big?" I questioned. Nobuo did warm me about what contained in the metallic chests, so I finally tried to confront Doctor Atsushi about it.

"Why would I tell you? It's not like you have cared before. Now shoo. I need it as quickly as possible" I got nothing out of him.

I went to the orphanage where I got the other chests. I met up with Fumiko instead of her brother.

"Hi Shiori. How are you doing?"

"Fine I guess. I'm trying to figure out what's in these chests" Fumiko didn't know anything about that either so she had no information to provide.

"Why don't you just open the chest?" She questioned. The chest had given me a bad feeling that whatever was in there, shouldn't be shown to the public.

"I'll do that later" I said goodbye to the brown haired kunoichi and left.

I tried to find a quiet alley where there weren't many people around. But a certain little redhead had found me.

"Oooooh, what's that??" Emi asked but I questioned why she was in a dangerous place.

"I thought I sensed a friends chakra over here! I guess that was you. What's in that chest?" Her curiosity is sky high as she wanted to surpass the Shimizu. She keeps on babbling about becoming the next Yamakage, and break the chain that only inheritance can be placed as royalty. When I thought about it, she shared a similar dream with my father.

"I'm about to find out. But I have to warn you, it might be a scary sight-"

"I'm not scared of anything! You can't go around being a scaredy cat when you want to become strong" She ignored my warning and walked closer to the metallic chest. I opened the chest a horrible foul odour escaped from it. We took a quick look to see what was contained, and there it was, a little girls dead body.

"No no no no no NO!" The little redhead tried to back away but she tripped on her own foot and fell backwards with her butt first. I slammed the lid close and quickly came for Emi's aid.

"They said she would come back, SHE said she would be back… why did this happen?" Her voice was rigid and she struggled to breath. I let her head be close to my chest, hoping a stable rhythmical beat would help.

I told her to take deep breaths and it took a while before her breaths become even.

"Who was that girl?" I asked quietly and she has to take more deep breaths before answering.

"She is a friend of the orphanage… she was suppose to take care of some animals from the underground. I don't understand why she is dead. If she died then the nannies would have said something!" She talked too quickly and I barely keep up with what she was saying, but I got the "clues" to understand.

"Why did you even have her chest?" She pushed me away and locked her piercing eyes on to mine. I made her promise me not to tell anyone. We made the childish pinky promise thingy.

"The local doctor and scientist, Atsushi, he wants these chests for an…" I got stuck on my words. It was hard to break it down to the younger girl in front of when I puzzled the pieces myself, in my mind.

"The doctor makes experiments" I quickly got that out.

"He is working with a project and these chests as been his material. I don't know what he is doing with these bodies but whatever he do, it's fucking messed up" tears had started to swell up from her eyes. Her cheeks and nose were red and puffy. Emi wanted to report to the Yamakage, and told her that it wasn't a good option. We started to argue on the spot about the consequences about her idea.

"The Yamakage knows what we should do about the doctor!"

"we can't get the authority involved in this mess!" She questioned my reasoning, she thought it was idiotic.

"As much as he is bad, he has also helped the village. I don't like to admit that but he has helped developing a cure for the rampaging sickness. If we get in trouble then we will slow down our progress to cure the village. He does save lives, believe it or not"

"If he really saves lives, then why didn't he save Sunittha?" Her eyes was piercing through me, searching for and answer she thought I had. I gave her a promise that we would stop the doctor after we have found the cure to the sickness. She barely believed me but she let me go.

I was still concerned for my hazel eyed friend so I offered to follow her back to the orphanage.

"What about the chest? Doesn't the doctor need it?" I put my palm on it and teleported it to the lab. I followed Emi to the orphanage and tried to comfort her as best as possible. Before, leaving her, I made her promise me not to tell anyone what she had seen. I knew it was a hard thing for her to do but we really needed to keep that information a secret. I wanted to immediately go back home and calm myself from what I had witnessed.

The next day, I went to the Uzumaki sisters. I knocked on their door and got greeted by the younger sister.

"Hi Shiori! It was fun practicing with you yesterday!" We had a small talk about yesterday's battle, and then Kohaku came by to see who was at their doorstep.

"Oh hi Shiori! I didn't expect you to be here?" She walked up to me and her little sister ran off.

"It's good to see your sister becoming better" I commented as we watched her disappear in to their mini library.

"It's been difficult to hold it up with the house and everything but I made anyways"

"You should be proud of yourself" I said and patted Kohaku's shoulder. She gave me a smile and let me in, in to their house.

"Is there anything you want? Is it practicing? It has been a while since last time so I understand you want to start doing it again!" We usually used to practice her seals techniques and my traps and compare them.

"No, not this time. I wanted to ask if you know anything about the fire style jutsu: heavenly prison" I asked and she frowned. We walked to her mini library and she started to search for a certain book. She finally found the book she was looking for and started to flip pages. She stopped flipping and started to read out loud about the seal. It was easier than thought to get rid of the seal. You just had to put your hand on to the seal and do the same hand seals but reverse.

"Why do you want to know about this specific seal?" She finally questioned. I told her that I need to unseal my seal I had on my stomach.

"Why… usually prisoners have those seals. Why do you have it?" I get used to lying, and it became automatic for me at certain situation. I lied that it was a prank that had gone wrong by the kids from the orphanage. It was wrong of me to black paint the orphanage as they already had a pretty bad reputation.

"I'm assuming they don't want to unseal it themself. I'm happy to help you!" She put her hand on my stomachs and did the reverses hand seals for the jutsu and I was free from the burning pain. She returned to the book and read a little more while I savored the moment of finally getting rid of the seal.

"Why did this use this sealing jutsu in particular? It drains the sealed person's chakra. It's in a slow but steady manner" An another burning feeling overwhelmed, I was inferious that the doctor had stolen chakra from me.

"I think they didn't realize how badly it was" I "excused" them and tried to change the topic.

"Well not I can train properly"

"You? Train? But then, again, Sumiko did say you were practicing with you and the other girls" Kohaku teased as I didn't train usually. I did make a big change since last time we properly talked to each other. We decided to sit on the sofa and talk to catch things up. I got to know that Sumiko now has a stable supplement of medication to stay pretty healthy. It's a huge deal for them and I couldn't be more happy for their sake.

"So she will finally attend to the academy normally?"

"Yes! Even being in the hospital, she could do all her homework and keeping up with the school. She is very smart and determined"

"Just like her older sister" I said and she just giggled and shook her head.

A knock on the door interrupted our conversation. The Uzumaki's house was small. When you stepped in to their house, you were immediately in their living room with the sofa and everything. When Kohaku opened the door, I saw Yumi stepping inside the room.

"Hi Kohaku- Shiori?" She immediately ran towards me and gave me a big hug. I apologized to her for yesterday's rush. She told me I didn't need to say sorry but I still wanted to be polite.

"It's good to see you're excited to study" the redhead teased and Yumi backed away blushing.

"Sorry Kohaku! I'm happy to see you too. It's been a while since we could study together!" Yumi walked back to the Uzumaki and gave her a proper hug. I asked why they would study, as it was a while before the next exam would be announced.

"I didn't graduate in to a chūnin. I lost in the fight of Omi"

"I also failed in the tournament and lost to Takayuki" I expected Kohaku to graduate because she was such a clever kunoichi. She has knowledge of highly tactical strategy that rivals my teammate Hisashi. They would sometimes compare and brag about new strategy the come up with them self. It was unusual topic to talk about but they enjoy it.

"I think it would be a good idea that you study with us! You didn't promote to chūnin either, right? I think this is a great opportunity" Kohaku suggested and I looked at Chīsai who had already made herself at home on the Uzumaki's sofa.

I agreed to study with the girls and our blue eyed friend started to gather books and scrolls and put them on the table in front of the sofa.

"Shiori I know you failed the history part of the writing test so you're going start to read about the hidden mountain village founders"

We had studied for two hours and I felt that I couldn't sit through another book without my brain exploding.

"I need to train now. I didn't do it earlier this morning so I'm going now" I quickly stood up to walk away but Yumi gently grabbed my arm.

"Let me practice with you?" She asked and I immediately got worried about her father.

"what about your dad?

"He only knows that I am with Kohaku and probably still thinks I am. We can take the training grounds that is the furthest away from my home" Yumi was pretty cunning and it had been shown clearly since her father restricted her from being with certain people. It wasn't just me she couldn't meet.

"As long you won't get in trouble"

We walked to the North East area of the village to get to the training area Yumi wished for. It wasn't too far as the Uzumaki sisters lived in the North West area. When we arrived, I asked her how she wanted to train and she suggested to teach me a jutsu.

"alright? What kind of jutsu are you going to teach me?"

"the "wind rush" jutsu. I've been practicing it to make it stronger because of how poorly it affected Omi. I know they're strong but it won't stop me from becoming better" She had become more confident. It was nice to see her progress.

"The hand seals for the jutsu is horse, boar and bird. It's only three hand seals and makes it easy to memorize" She demonstrated the jutsu and wind nature chakra started to surround her, and with a spinning motion, she dashed forward like a drill made of wind and destroyed the dummy in front of us. The power of her tornado drill left a huge drilling mark on the ground.

"Holy crap that's impressive!" Chīsai happily barked as a cheer.

"Thank you! I know you don't know too many jutsus so I thought about teaching you one if you like"

"It's very nice of you. I'll try my best" I made the same hand seals as she instructed and I felt chakra surrounding me and spinning. When I tried to make the spinning motion with my body, I failed by not having the necessary chakra needed to make the drilling attack and I fell flat on the ground.

I could hear laughs from other ninjas that was nearby the training area. I stood up again and brushed of the dust.

"Are you okay Shiori? You're not hurt?" I reassured her that I was fine and tried to do the jutsu right, but ended up failing again.

We ended up spending hours to practice and trying to figure out why I couldn't do the jutsu. We discussed that it could be because I didn't know how to use wind nature chakra, however, Yumi also said that the jutsu should be possible to do without chakra nature transformation.

The day came to an end and I had to say goodbye to my silver haired friend. She gave me a hug and we held on to each other for a little while, knowing it would be a while before we could spend time together like that.

"We can be together again soon. I promise" it was a risky promise but it was something I wanted to hold on to. I owe Yumi so much, being there for her was the least thing I could do for her. We said our goodbyes and I quickly returned home with Chīsai. I apologized to my companion that we didn't train with her too, but she didn't whine or bite me so she wasn't upset with me.

I returned home to see a lunchbox laying on my bed. I figured that Yasushi must have delivered it, as Yumi couldn't have done it because I had spent the majority of the day with her. I ate the food and shared a little with Chīsai, I then quickly went to bed after I was done eating the meal.

My morning was hectic. I could hear Chīsai barking loudly, like her life depended on it. A small hand was shaking me roughly and I had to wake up. I blinked a couple of times to regain vision and saw Harumiko standing in her knees beside the mattress.

"What does the doctor want now-"

"The orphanage is under attack!" My concern focused quickly on Talia and Hitoshi. I took my sword and followed Harumiko to the orphanage. I left Chīsai behind as I didn't want her to get involved.

I saw Aiko standing outside the building when we arrived.

"What the hell is happening?"

"They're saying that there is a shady man who started to attack the people in the orphanage. Our police shinobi hasn't arrived yet. We need to get the kids out of here to safety!" Without hesitation, we ran inside the building and started to search for survivors. The little Shimizu did mention that the shady man killed the children on our way to the orphanage. It baffled me that someone wanted to kill innocent children.

When we found the survivors, I would use my "flying thunder god" jutsu to teleport them out of the place. We scout the place for a while and stumbled upon the shady man who had stabbed Michi in the gut. Etsuko and Emi was protecting younger children.

"Michi!" I accidentally yelled. The man turned to me for a short second but then turned his focus on the black haired girl again and pierced even further into her gut with his kunai.

"Etsuko.. Emi… take care of the orphanage kids for me. Alright?" Michi pushes away the man, still having the kunai inside of her. She used her final jutsu, the "water trumpet" technique and sent the murderer flying and crashing through the walls.

I caught Michi in my arms, not letting her hit the ground when she fell.

"Ah Shiori, you came here after all. I'm glad you're still kind enough to help them" the rest of the kids surrounded us held on tightly to the bleeding girl beneath me.

"Shiori, no matter what they say, you are forgiven. The one who hasn't are the loud ones. But many respects you already"

"Even in your last moment, you waste it on comforting me" tears was swelling up on everyone around Michi.

"You're still a part of the orphanage whatever you like it or not. You are a part of this family too…" She finally said before taking her last breath. Her eyes stopped focusing and came to a stand still. Etsuko closed Michi's eyes as I put her gently on to the floor. Emi broke the silence with a big outburst that could attract attention.

"I'm tired of this! I'm tired of watching my friends disappear in front of me!" The small girl must have reached her final peak. She saw her close friend dead ina coding and right then she watches her only home being attacked and see her "family" and friends die.

"Shiori.. I'm not going to fight to be better than Harumiko or Aiko anymore. I'm going to fight for my friends and show you that caring for your friends even in a crisis like this is possible!" Emi took out the kunai from the dead body. I heard footstep coming from the way where the man disappeared. I told Etsuko to run away with the younger children while me and Emi would handle things. The rest of the kids ran away as we stood ready in a positing to fight our enemy.

"You are dumb enough to not run away when you had the chance?" It was the first time I heard him speak. His voice was deep and exhausted. It could have been from the attack from Michi, but it sounded like it has been tired for a long time.

I took the opportunity to act first so the shady mans focus was on me and not my younger friend. He had a kunai left so he parried my sword with his last weapon.

I felt that he was an experienced fighter. He probably was a shinobi too. He was very skilled and I had difficulties keeping up with the strange man. He wore a hoodie and a big scarf to cover his face, but if you looked closely you could see his eyes, I did not recognize them however.

The man's priority seemed to be disarming me of my weapon. He needed a better weapon to finally put on end to my stubborness to fight him. I secretly put explosive tags on the hilt of my sword while Emi also distracted him with shurikens. When he finally caught me and disarmed my weapon, I used the hand seal to detonate the tag to injure the killer's hand that was close to grab my sword.

"You imbecill!!" his hand was burned and some of his fingers had been detached from his hand by the explosion. blood dripped from his hand and I could clearly smell the iron of it. the great enhancement of my sense warned me that I was about to go berserk. I quickly looked at my arms and noticed a gray tint on my right arm.

"Emi, please stay away from me and find Aiko"

"Wh-what? why?" I quickly pushed the younger girl away from me and protected her from both me and an electric bolt that was sent from the shady old man.

"Run!" my redheaded friend made it out of the room with no harm as I let myself lose my mind to distract the man from Emi. My arm transformed a blade on its side as I rushed towards him and tried to cut him. He protected himself by rolling over to the side so I missed. I was too slow to turn around properly so the killer had time to kick me on the side so I hit the shelf with books and fall to the ground with the whole shelf and books with me. The furniture was very heavy and all the big books didn't help me either in my escape.

The man taunted me as I tried to get up but to no avail. I was confused of why I couldn't get up as my other berserks had made me endure worse situation than just a simple shelf. I realized what the problem was and it was because I was already turning normal. The blade on my forearm disappeared as well as my skin color. I wasn't strong enough in my normal state. I was too weak.

"Dammit!" I cursed as I knew that I was in a possible death situation.

"You're weak, just like the rest of the orphans from this hellish place!" He babbled as he walked closer to me. He kneeled down and pulled my hair so I looked up at him.

"These are the kind of places that suck up all of your fortune to be wasted by children that knows nothing about the society and ravish however they want like they own the village!" The puzzle pieces started to make sense. His old torn voice and his hatred for the orphanage made it obvious that he was mad at the system.

Everyone in the village had to pay a certain amount of money as treasure. Those treasures are paid not only for their home but also for electricity for their home as well as clean water, other things that benefits the whole society like the hospital so people don't have to worry about not being able to get proper treatment, or the ninja academy so every child had the right to become a ninja, the money could also be paid for places like the orphanage so the orphans has the rights like the other children with parents. There are of course some people who is not happy that their money gets spend on things they don't like. Like the killer who didn't like that his money was spent on children he thought was hopeless trash bags.

"Have you given up on humanity?" I tried to stall him while Aiko and the others had more time to save the children.

"Of course I have! The Shimizu clan has never known what the fuck they are doing-" the man received a hard punch to the face from Aiko who had used "fist rock" jutsu. The hit made space between us from the killer. Aiko stood in front of me like a barrier. I blamed myself that I was in this position so Aiko wouldn't have to be in the front of the danger.

I saw my sword requested my teammate to retrieve it to me. Aiko rushed for my blade and got too unfocused by her surroundings so the man old could tackle her to the side so she came further away from the sword. The opponent quickly switched to hand in hand combat, making Aiko almost unable to make any hand seals. She only had time to block because of how quick the man was. Aiko tried to retreat to get my sword. She had it for a moment but the killer kicked her hand and the sword ironically flew towards me, however, it was still out of reach for me, I could barely touch it. If I was able to stretch more

then the sword would be back to my possession

"You can't protect anyone princess. You can't satisfied every people of your village. There will always be some people that will forever be unhappy"

"What the hell are you talking about?" The man was about to drop the negatives about the system that the kage has built. The system was different from the most of the villages. The people actually has a voice here, or at least most of them. Our leader even let us vote for things so they had a way to know what we think and feel. But sometimes, one side won with a certain opinion that the other side didn't like, and they become mad and salty. They started to yell that it was "false democracy" and wasn't satisfied with the decision that was made in the system.

"Your grandmother said she would make a difference, and so did your mother but nothing has changed for several decades! And you're no difference. You are a prodigy like her, cunning like her, and a bad lier like her" I was tired of lying around not being able to do something. I used my little strength I could muster and grabbed my sword.

"You're being awfully rude" I pointed the sword on the shelf over me and let my special chakra nature transformation, the laser release charge through my sword. The laser blade cut through the books and the shelf in half so it became easier for me to get up from the mess.

"That's not the way you should speak to your future queen" the man started to shake. He tried to back away but tripped on himself instead.

"The Kesshō clan.." I could hear him whisper as I walked closer to me. I had to make him surrender before my sword would overheat and burn my hand. I had cirka 3 minutes to make him talk.

I demanded him to take off his scarf and hoodie. He did as I said and he revealed himself to be an old man as I assumed. He wasn't too old however, he seemed to be in his 70's. He had some dunked around his eyes and mouth, he also had a scar over it. With his baldness made you think that he might have been an old prisoner, but who knew.

"Who are you? You have explained why you want to attack the orphanage but, have you no sympathy for these kids? How many newborn children did you kill while you strolled around? Have you enjoyed the sound of them screaming in fear?" Being mad at the Yamakage and her system is one thing, but killing innocent kids is another thing.

"This was my riot…. to show the Yamakage if she doesn't think about us minorities, then there will be consequences-" he hissed in pain as my blade got closer to his throat.

"Did you ever thought your consequences? About what will happen to you when you do a killing spree?" Aiko grabbed my shoulder to hinder my arm to let my sword get any closer to the man.

His eyes desperately searched the room for any escape. He realizes that there was no way out as we could hear anbu and royal guard backups arrive outside the orphanage.

"You, the upcoming queen" his eyes looked sternly on my teammate.

"Yes?"

"If you truly want to be different from your superiors, then listen to everyone, even to the tiniest of voices you can barely hear"

The anbus later bust in and escorted away the old man. Me and Aiko walked outside to see our Sensei talking to the royal guard. I eavesdropped and heard that Makoto Sensei was questions their presence, saying things like "this is not what a royal guard should do" or "you don't need to be here. The anbus can handle the situation. He seemed to have a bad relationship with them. I didn't see the royal guards too often so I do not know the relationship between my Sensei and the guards were.

The guards job are usually regarding the Shimizu family, that's they're only priority. The Yamakage was picky with choosing who can become a royal guard, but for some reason, she saw possibility in me, causing her to give me that contract so long ago.

"Why are the guards here? Did mother send them?" Aiko asked Makoto Sensei.

"Apparently. The guards usually don't get involved in situation like this. Just stay away from this and it will be fine" Makoto Sensei told us but not me and Aiko couldn't oblige to it, not when we had been through all of that.

"What do you mean stay out of it? We just witnessed a murder that possibly has more people on his side. All this shit was because of political issues, this shouldn't be taken lightly!" I protested and our Sensei wasn't happy with that.

"This is a job for the authorities. Not for children like you!" He never had outburst, it was very unlike our Sensei to do such a thing. He was always calm and laid back, almost scared at certain points.

I felt disappointed at his choice of words. It made it sound like he didn't trust him, even though he had trained us since we were fresh out of the academy.

"A shinobi's purpose is to protect their village. Are you telling us to do the opposite? Are you holding us back?" I called him out and I was ready to get scolded, but instead he took a deep breath and just took a deep breath.

"None of you know the true burden of a ninja yet.." was all he said before leaving.

"What the heck was that..?" Aiko questioned but I just shrugged. I excused myself to Aiko and teleported to the lab to look for the doctor. I opened the metallic doors to the lab and found him to be in the basement of the building. The room had the same thick odor of a dead body. It was disgusting and I wanted to vomit but I had to confront him. I walked over to him and saw him standing in front of a water tank with glass so you could see what was floating in it. It was a little child floating inside, looking to be in the same age as my teammates. Their body parts didn't match up, but it made it a bit more obvious when you saw the stitches on their skin. The child looked like my long lost childhood friend and it made everything obvious to me. The doctor had used the dead body part of the children to revive his own daughter, I could even feel her chakra. It was the most wicked experiment he had ever done.

"You shouldn't be playing with the dead. I thought you at least had some respect to let your daughter Rest In Peace" I said while the doctor kept writing something down on the control panel.

"It wasn't meant for her to die. It was too early for her to be gone" it was clear that the doctor had been in denial. The was some spare clothes beside him that he picked up as he clicked on the final bottom that dispersed the water from the water tank. The tank opened when the water was gone and the Doctor quickly picked up his daughter and put some clothes on her. The blue haired girl opened her eyes to see her father again.

"D-Dad? Is that you? Why am I… alive?"

"I've brought you to life, Eiko" The Doctor hugged his daughter tightly. The tiny girl was confused but returned the hug nonetheless. I silently withdraw my sword, as I sneaked behind the Doctor. There was no better chance for me to kill Atsushi than the moment where he was volnurable. His daughter was fully away of my presence and probably knew what I was about to do, but she stayed silent and let me cut the neck of her father.

"What the-" He fell forward as Eiko backed away from Atsushi. The doctor tried to form words but was unable to and ended up coughing up blood. It didn't take too long until he died. I looked at my childhood friend who didn't seemed faced at all that I kill her father too.

"I know I'm not supposed to be here.. But I'm happy that I got to see my best friend once again" She smiled and I walked closer to her.

"I killed your mother and now your father. How can you be happy to see the murder of your parents?" I questioned but she took my hand.

"There's a difference. You killed me and mother by accident, I knew you never meant to harm us. We were just practicing. My father… I don't know exactly what he has done but I was aware he had been disturbing things. Bringing me to life shows that" She told me and gave me a hug.

"You're still my best friend you always will be!" I teared up as I finally returned the hug. I had to interrupt and ask her how to return her to the other side.

"I think burning my body should be enough. Could you do me a favor before you burn me?" I crouched so I could listen to her.

"Will you put my heart to a container? My father mentioned that my heart has been experimented a lot, so much that it can give someone a second chance to live. I've been dead for long and should stay dead, but give it to someone who is young and doesn't want to die yet" I didn't understand why she wanted to do that, but I looked for a small container and found it standing in a table with other containers that wasn't labeled. The one that was labeled belonged to the heart obviously, but it had another label that said Shimizu blood. I figured that heart must have been kept alive and working thanks to the Shimizu's blood. I took the container and walked back to the girl. I questioned when her father had mentioned the claims the blue haired girl claimed.

"He would speak to be through the tube while I was still developing… he said a lot of things about making me perfect…" Doctor Atsushi even just saw his own daughter as just a tool.

I opened the small container while Eiko ripped her own heart out. I felt unbearably sick, the whole experimenting with dead bodies took a toll on me and I didn't want to deal with anything like that again. The girl put her heart in to the container and I closed the lid quickly and connected the container as well as putting it in an ice box. The blood flood out of her chest when I had returned to her. I withdraw my sword again and engulfed it in flames.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this again…" my voice was shaking as I looked in to Eiko's eyes. A small part of me wanted to keep her alive but I knew it was better to let her be put to rest.

"It's alright. I know you never really want to do this, but this is for the best" With a final goodbye, I slashed her with the flaming sword and she got caught on fire. My childhood friend didn't scream in agony to the heat, but then again, she might not have been able to feel anything when she was revived. I stayed until she had burnt to ashes and put out the fire with the thick lab coat I took from the dead doctor. I took the freeze box and left things as it was. It was better to let the authorities to discover the seen by themselves.

I went straight back home, hiding the freeze box in the corner of my shelter and covered it with a blanket. Chīsai who was curious about the box, caught it's scent very quickly.

"Friend!" She ran to the box and barked at it. I told her to not care about it and she ignored the box. She looked at me at noticed quickly how sad I was. Standing in the middle of the mess made me realized how exhausted I was. My leg was shaking so I sat myself down on my "bed" and let my companion sit on my lap.

"Sisi, sad?" I let my tears run down my cheek as I was too tired to care. Chīsai didn't understand the reason why I was sad, but she still tried to lick away my tears.

Shiori! I couldn't find you after-" Emi stormed in to my shelter without a warning. She stopped dead on her track when she saw me in that state.

"A-are you okay, Shiori?" Even after what she had dealt with, she still found a place left in her heart to care for someone else.

She sat beside me while I tried swallow my own tears.

"I killed the doctor"

Alright so I got summer break and I will be busy the whole break. I'm very unsure how much I can write and publish so the schedule will be a mess over he break but it will go back to normal when school starts again. I see you around for now


	20. Chapter 19

Mother had handed us a mission that was a C rank! Despite my and Hisashi Chūnin rank, Our Sensei purposely choose the D ranked missions, the only exception was when mother personally wanted us to handle certain missions. An example is the mission to greet the visitors from the outside.

My excitement for the mission overclouded the thought of how our Sensei acted a little while ago. It was very unprofessional of him but we couldn't do much about it as he was our Sensei. Shiori has been very grumpy towards Makoto Sensei and Hisashi didn't understand a thing why it was like that tense between them. On top of that, Hisashi was upset about the sudden death of Atsushi. He wasn't sad that he was dead, he was rather mad that the doctor disappeared without giving us "answers" I wasn't sure what he was babbling about before the mission but I agreed to discuss with him after the mission.

"Remember, we are just going to subdue the land sharks and scare them away from our tunnel path way system and the village. Don't kill the creatures unless needed to" landsharks had been digging too close to our village and it could make chaos if we didn't drove them away. We weren't sure why they had started to dig their way up to us.

Mother also decided that there were more people needed for our mission so team Gemini and Omi had joined us. Team Gemini included Nobuo, Kohaku, Naiya. Their Sensei Junichi, didn't join this mission because mother thought that Makoto Sensei would be enough.

Kohaku was speaking with Shiori about plans and tactics. Shiori was surprisingly indulge in the conversations he had the blue eyed girl. I wanted to join in and share my ideas and thoughts but I didn't not want to disturb them. Shiori has been very silent since the attack of the orphanage, and had went back to her quite old self. I wanted turn her back by letting her be comfortable and not "take over" the conversation and feeling left out. I noticed that Shiori's sword was nowhere to be seen. I thought it was odd for her to not bring her sword in such an important mission.

"We could go to the furthest part of the tunnels, let you mark it and when we search for the landsharks, we just teleport them there!"

"Do you you know how fast I will run out of chakra if we use that plan?"

"Do you know how much chakra reserve I have that I can provide you?" It was a bit humorous to listen to them arguing. We ended up with going with Kohaku's plan. Searching for the monsters wasn't hard either, as Makoto Sensei was a earth style specialist. He just needed to touch the tunnel walls and he could sense the surrounding area! He could only sense in a certain radius however. If the landsharks were too far away, then we would feel the ground shaking, revealing their location.

"Alright we should be close to one of them soon-" the earth wall on the side in front of us got destroyed by a land shark who was digging. It had gotten his sight on us and examined us. It was a gigantic shark with canine limbs with thick paws that was equipped with sharp claws that help with their digging. The creature was big enough to cover the road in the tunnel.

"Stick to the plan kids! Stun and distract the landsharks while Shiori finds an opening to teleport them away-" another crash from the wall appeared again, but that time it was close to us. Another landsharks had appeared and had our Sensei hostage in its mouth. The creature had carried out Sensei like a stick.

"I-it's alright kid. Go back to Yama-" Makoto Sensei could finish his sentence before his capture continued digging away.

"Makoto Sensei!" The other landsharks that blocked us started to charge at us with full speed, roaring so it made the tunnel tremble.

"Turn back!"

"But then we are leading it closer to the village!" I argued against Naiya and she realized her mistake. She examined as the creature ran towards us clumsily. She pointed at the hole the other monster came from gesturing that we should use it as escape. We had no other choice but to ran inside the unknown tunnel. We blindly ran forward further in to the tunnel a It got darker and darker.

"Fire style: Fox Fire!" Orbs of Fire surrounded Shiori and she hovered the fire orbs above her, letting her act as a beacon to lead us. Even if we had a little start advantage against the chasing monster, it quickly caught up to us and we could hear its loud "steps". Kohaku had conveniently found another another tunnel up in the ceiling. We stopped right beneath the tunnel and waited for the creature to come closer.

"Remind me why we are stopping?!"

"If we rush in now then the landsharks knows were we are headed. We have to feint them" Hisashi explained to Nobuo who was uncertain about our plan. We waited as it came closer and closer.

"Omi!"

"I'm on it!" They creates two long spears that was way longer than any of us. They handed the other spear to Shiori and both of them ran towards the landshark! They stabbed the monsters eyes, making it stop and roar in pain. Shiori and Omi took the opportunity to hover themselves up in to the tunnel above.

"Let's go!" We followed suit and jumped up to the tunnel and proceed to run up the wall. The creature lost track of us but we still ran so we could get far away from it.

The tunnel was longer than thought and Shiori's Fire orbs started to fade out. Keeping a consistent chakra control on your feet, as well as keeping a jutsu active must have drained her.

I quickly made my way to my comrade but Kohaku was already there before me.

"Don't worry Shiori. I provide you chakra!" She put her hands on Shiori's back and pushed her forward, giving her more chakra and kept her running at the same time.

We kept running without problems, until we finally came to an end of the current tunnel, and got greeted with another tunnel with a greater darkness. I could hear by our footstep that the tunnel was bigger than the previous ones.

"Kohaku. Help me give Shiori the amount of chakra so she can lit up the tunnel" me and the red haired girl put our hands on Shiori's shoulder and she made the fire orbs bigger, lighting up the tunnel who appeared to be gigantic.

Naiya immediately questioned the size of the tunnel and stated that it was impossible to be dug without mechanical aid. The Uzumaki girl walked over to the wall of the tunnel as Shiori decreased the size of her fire orb. Kohaku examines the walls and came up with a conclusion.

"These scratch marks on the wall is the same as the ones one the other tunnels. This mean that's the landshark we saw before was just… children"

"The full grown landsharks are huge! Do we even stand a chance against it?! We need to go back and report to lord Yamakage. This could turn out to be a B ranked mission. It is too much for us to handle"

"But our Sensei is still out there! We need to save him!" I argued against Nobuo. Leaving Makoto Sensei here in grave danger didn't feel right to me. The group started to argue about what we should do. Me, Hisashi and Omi wanted to persuade Makoto Sensei while team Gemini wanted to return to the Yamakage's office. Our started to get louder and louder, we made a huge risk to be found by the monsters hiding in the dark tunnels.

Shiori silenced and made the final decision.

"We are finding that man, alive. I have unanswered questions from him" we all went silent. We looked at her, knowing that there was something behind her eyes. It could have been irritation, madness or determination.

My short friend split us into smaller groups. She thought it would be more more effective and faster. It was me and Omi in one group, Shiori and Kohaku in one and Hisashi, Nobuo and Naiya in the last group. She had thought this through as one group had at least one fire user to light the way.

Naiya once again questioned, and was worried about losing one another.

"We won't. I have seals on both Aiko and Hisashi and they act as a beacon of you guys are in danger. I will teleport as fast as you guys gets in trouble"

"Didn't you say earlier that you couldn't teleport infinitive? You will run out of chakra eventually"

"We also came with the solution that Kohaku will will give me chakra when I need it" Shiori stated and she and the Uzumaki disappeared in one direction of the tunnel.

I used a weaker version of my fire lance that only covered my hand, making it smaller than its complete form, but strong enough to light up our path. It didn't drain too much chakra from me either.

Me and Omi walked the opposite way of what the others went. Our search for my teacher was long and almost dreadful. We were in constant danger of stumbling upon a gigantic landshark. Every quake, every rumble we heard sent a cold shiver down my spine, thinking that it could be it. I had to flip my fear in to positivity instead, of else I would never have a chance to find my Sensei.

Despite of trying to look at the bright side, fear and stress overcame me.

"It feels like we have been here for hours! We are never going to find him. He might as well been eaten by those creature by now!" Omi noticed my change in attitude and tried to work with me.

"What are you talking about? Of course we find him! With your amazing sensory capability, we will find him!"

"I told you! I have difficulty finding him because of how he is in a constant movement!" My pessimism won over me. The darkness had successfully made me paranoid by the time I have spent down there. Omi grabbed my arms, making me have to look at them. They actually seemed to be as upset as I was. Omi usually were carefree, almost too carefree. They never showed any other specific emotion in public.

They were done with my negativity, they scolded me to have such a thought and that I should focus.

"How can I focus when I know that I might lose my Sensei?! Do you know how it feels to lose someone? Do you know how it feels to be forced to watch your close one die in front of you-"

"I had to kill my parents in order to remain my village stable" they silenced me with something as personal as I blabbered about. Omi for once, shared a part of their story with me.

"Assassins broke in to my house, threatened my parents and my grandfather, the Kosuikage. My parents were high military nobility. The adds suns wanted at least either of them dead, and they made me have to choose and do the bidding, just to torture me. Believe me, I know how it feels to kill off the once that are close to you" I could see no lies in their eyes. The only thing I could see was honesty. We stood like that for a moment, letting me sink in the information.

The silence didn't scare me anymore. The atmosphere was different in a calming way. I started to giggle, and then it turned in to laughter, making my friend very confused.

"H-hey! I just shared an important part of my life! There's nothing to laugh about-"

"No no it's not that!" It was the first time seeing them flustered too, it was cute."

"I keep forgetting that I'm not alone.. that I have friends that actually do know how I feel. I just feel silly, that's why I laughed. But thank, Thank you for being honest with me" I gave them a reassuring smile and they hugged me. I usually didn't hug someone if they weren't close to me, but that time it actually felt nice.

We decided to continue the search and we ended up finding my Sensei's silly beanie with the our village crest on it.

"It looks like it didn't fall off long ago. He must be close by!" We got our hopes up and started to run once again without thinking. We didn't notice the grumble because of our excitement, making us vulnerable to the monster we had tried to avoid. A huge landshark came from above, making us having to back off.

The monster covered the already huge tunnel and blocked our path. We both started to run the opposite way as the landshark started to chase us.

"Water style: explosive water shockwave!" Omi grabbed my arm and turned around as they spit out great volume of water get us away from the creature, as well as hindering it at the same time. I could sense that the jutsu took a lot of chakra. The water came to an end and we still had to run as we could still hear and feel the quake of the monsters running.

"How is it so fast?!"

"Don't look back. Just keep running!" The rumble was getting louder and louder and the landshark has almost caught up to us. Both of us knew that we had wandered deep in to the tunnels and that we were far from safety. I thought it could have been the end of us. Random thoughts started to run through my mind, like how I couldn't save us from the disaster, or how Shiori couldn't have sensed that we were in huge danger. I also started to think about Harumiko and how she would deal with the death of her "only" sister.

The monster roared as it leaped at us with its sharp claws. Even if I was sure that there was no escape, I tried to run as fast as I could. I took a last glance at the landshark, just to see that Omi grabbed the claw of the monster to immediately stop the running creature, but it had successor stabbed through Omi however.

"OMI!!!" The monster couldn't budge, Omi held it with great strength, despite the immense bleeding. They started to laugh. It made me confused. Nothing about that situation was funny. I felt upset about Omi's behavior. I wanted to scold them but they already spoke up.

"Hahah! I never thought I would shield myself like this to a human! But… it is thanks to you that I was able to have real friends. To know people that would see be as a person and not a monster. I've… I've never felt this happy before, and that is why I could do this without hesitation or regrets. Aiko, thank you for seeing me as.. well, me!" Feared started to stream down their face, a new expression I had never seen them in before. I barely knew if they could cry before that moment!

"O-Omi I.. I-" a pair of hands was laid on our shoulders and we were teleported somewhere else. But it wasn't too far off from where the mister was as you could still hear its roaring.

I quickly stood up and looked around the area to see it was only Shiori and Kohaku visible. The rest of the group was here, if not more but I couldn't see them.

Kohaku quickly came to Omi's aid and started to heal their open wound.

"You could have teleport us earlier? That would have been great!" I started to scold Shiori for not being there in time.

"We weren't done preparing" she excuses but I didn't buy it at all at that moment. I was throwing a fit. Which I rarely do and there were only a few people who could make me do that and one of them is Shiori.

"Is that more important than a friends life?! I never thought you would stoop so low Shi-"

"Do you seriously think they will die! You forget too easily Aiko. They're a jinchuriki. The tailed beast inside them are doing everything in its power to keep Omi alive. You're underastimate them again" Shiori scolded me instead and faced towards were the rumbling sound came from. My instincts quickly switched.

"Why aren't we escaping?!" I questioned but no ones answered me.

I could see the creature coming closer to us. I stood close to Kohaku and Omi incase something would happen to them. Suddenly, seals along the walls started to light up. The seals festered on the landshark, slowing them and finally trapped them in the net like trap.

I realized that the seals was what they were preparing.

"Let's knock em' dead darlings!" A swarm of snow birds flew right in to the monster, hitting it repeatedly. It roared in irritation but the seals still held it tightly. Hisashi appeared behind and shrugged.

"Ah I didn't expect it to do much"

Talia appeared from the tunnel wall and started to slash the creature with her scythe. Her blade made barely any scratches on the landsharks skin sadly enough. She backed flipped away when she realized that there was no use in attacking it.

"Talia? You're here?" Shiori was surprised, it looked like she wasn't aware of the amount of people that was actually there.

"You think I'm leaving your stupid ass here?" She retorted and returned to our side.

The landshark opened its mouth wide open, and rocks appeared from it and started to shoot directly at us.

"Not so fast! Earth style: mud wall!" Both Nobuo and Hitoshi appeared from above, smashed the ground and a rock wall covered in front of the landshark.

"Stay low!" Nobuo yelled and we all laid down on the ground, avoiding the rocks that actually succeeded to penetrate through the rock wall. Our rock shield disappeared with the monster rock blasts.

"Looks like I have to help you again"

"It's almost cute to see you here to help little ol' me" I looked over my shoulder to see Naiya and Shinju. They had chains that was attached to their wrists and I couldn't comprehend how they would drag so much chain along with them. They were bound to be heavy.

Despite the weigh, they moved with incredible speed towards the landshark. With swift motions, thy had wrapped the chains around the monster. They settled themself against the tunnel walls and they both used fire nature's chakra to warm up the chains. The creature roared again and with ease shook the girls away. I quickly ran to their rescues and caught bit of the girls and returned to the others.

"Dammit!" I heard the Uzumaki curse. I looked at her and the injured jinshuriki. I could see that Kohaku was running low on chakra too.

"hold on a little more. I will aid you as fast " Fumiko and Yumi appeared from behind. I felt so relieved to see them come to our rescue. I was of course greatfull to the others to take the risk to find us.

"How can I ignore my sweetheart when she is in danger?" Fumiko winked at me and I tried to ignore her obvious flirt.

"And I can't leave my brother here either. You know how he is.."

"I heard that!" I could Nobuo yell not from afar.

"I hope you have a master plan of some sort. We need to knock this thing out"

A cooperation ninjutsu right away when I glanced at my girl friends. They knew immediately what I was thinking about.

"We haven't done that since the last time someone bullied Yumi, and that was a long time ago!" Fumiko laughed in excitement.

"Oh how my jutsu used to be weak.."

"But you're stronger now" I put a reassuring hand on Yumi's shoulder, giving her a genuine smile despite the mess. She used to have really bad self-esteem, but thanks heavens that she is in a better state.

We stood in our position, Yumi in the middle and me and Fumiko on each of her sides.

"Wind style: air bullet!" Yumi spitted a storm I'd vacuum bullets from her mouth, hitting the landshark. Me and Fumiko spitted fire on to the "bullets" giving them fire, making them do more damage. A colourful storm of orange and blue flame bullets covered the landshark and we stopped ourself to not kill the creature. When the smoked clear, you could see that the monster had laid down in defeat, or so we thought.

The landshark opened its eyes and used their remaining strength to snapp off the net seals.

An overwhelming weigh fell upon me as I fell on my knees. Every last bit of our strength was for nothing. I lost all hope in that moment, thinking that I couldn't even save my friends.

"Dammit, dammit! DAMMIT!" I was hopelessly hitting the ground, trying to get the last frustration out of my system before embracing my "fate".

Something had snapped in Yumi. She quickly returned to the others and immediately spoke with Shiori.

"Do you have chakra left?"

"Mmm" It was uncertainty in her voice, but Yumi gave it a shot anyways.

"Is it enough to do that jutsu? Together it can be stronger!" I stood up, watching the white haired beauty encouraged my teammate. Shiori understood that there was no other option. They ran towards the charging monster without fear as Shiori put on her goggles.

They both screamed out the jutsu they combined to make something greater.

"Wind style: wind rush!

Fire style: fire rush!"

"Scorch style: infernal storm rush!" They spun their bodies, coating them self with their respective matured transformation to form a drill like attack. They spiraled around each other, creating an even bigger attack together. A tornado coated in flames rushed towards the landshark with equal size and power. They clashed against each other with immense power, making the tunnel shake. The monster tried its best to no budge from the attack, but you could see clearly that it was trembling.

With a final push from the female duo, they overpowered the monster and they defeated it. The creature fell over as Shiori and Yumi stopped their jutsu and fell. Shiori caught Yumi mid air and made a smooth landing with Yumi's help by using her wind nature to ease the landing.

"We did it!" She hugs Shiori tightly while still being carried by her. They returned to us as heroes and we all praised them for what they did.

"That was incredible!"

"I have never seen something like that before!"

"See, theyre happy for you. You're not the same person as those rumors" I told Shiori but she didn't say anything.

"Let's get out of here, now"

"You're forgetting that I'm on a mission. I can't leave them" I could hear Shinju and Naiya talking at the back.

"Whatever! I have a meeting with my new little friend~" I felt Shinju's presence slowly disappear.

"Let's rest and wait for the landshark kids to appear" Nobuo said and I questioned his decision, thinking that it could be more creature nearby.

"We scouted the area before and it's only the mother and her children around her. We are waiting for the children to find their mommy and reveal themself so we can snatch Makoto Sensei" He explains his plan and I remained calm and sat down to rest. Fumiko had taken over to heal Omi's wounds, Kohaku took a rest with her teammates and Yumi provided Shiori with chakra.

"I didn't thought a bunch of genins and chūnins would knock a gigantic landshark" Hisashi commented as he sat down beside me.

"Not me either. But here we are" I smiled of relief.

We didn't have to wait long until the smaller landsharks popped up. They saw their mother fainted on the ground and immediately ran to her aid. One of them threw away our Sensei at us before running towards their mother. Hitoshi and Hisashi quickly ran to get Makoto Sensei.

"Do you have enough chakra to teleport us back?" Hisashi asked as they arrived with our fainted teacher. Shiori reassured she could take us home and ordered us to put our hands on to her shoulder or back. We did as she said as Shiori focused really hard. In just a flash, we appeared in mothers office. Luckily, it was only her there.

"Can someone explain why three fainted person and a bunch of kids is doing in my office?" Mother didn't seem to be surprised at all, just demanded an explanation. I looked at Shiori and saw that she had also fainted. It must have taken a lot of chakra for her to teleport so many people and such a long distance.

"You know what? Never mind, let's just get these shinobis to the hospital! And the team assigned to Makoto Sensei follows me to the hospital, the rest of you are dismissed!"

Kohaku gave a detailed explanation about what had happened, and I then had to fill in from where Omi got badly injured.

"Ah I see. And then the others came to your rescue? Even other shinobis who wasn't assigned to the mission came to help?" We all nodded and my Sensei started to apologize for not being more on alert.

"Don't blame yourself too much, but yes I do agree that you should have been more focused. The mission was not a failure as I can assume that the landshark won't get closer after being beaten up!" Mother approved our mission and everyone was dismissed as some nurses moved my Sensei to another room.

Mother gave me a kiss on the forehead and praised me for succeeding the mission.

"You've done great today. Get some rest now" Mother left the room and the other team left as well, leaving me and Hisashi with Shiori and Omi.

"Today has been insane…"

"I'm hanging out with Shiori and you on a daily basis, define insane" Hisashi sassily retorted, meaning he was on a better mood. I recalled that he wanted to discuss about a dead man.

"What is with the doctor that bothers you so much?"

"Are you so oblivious about him or are you just really stupid?" He went back to be pissed.

"Are you aware about what he has done behind our backs? Have you ever wondered why Shiori "randomly" gets injured for "no reason?" Some things did make connections but it could also be coincidence, at least that's what I thought until Hisashi's last argument.

"Take a look on her left ankle" I thought it was a random order but I did as he said anyway. I lifted up Shiori's blanket a bit to check on her ankle and there it was. A barcode and under it was a text that said "Subject S". My memory recalled that the doctor has mentioned that before and things started to make sense for me.

"He… Atsushi, he made experiments on her?" He nodded and a silence fell upon the room. I looked at my black haired friend, trying to imagine how much she had to endure.

"Wait.. was Harumiko aware of this? I knew she volunteered worked at his lab.."

"Yes and she probably knew more. She didn't share any information for Shiori sake and safety" I felt stupid and blind for not knowing what was going on.

"She didn't call for help because of the doctors title. But I'm sure he threatened Shiori as well to not tell anyone. She had no choice but to obey Doctor Atsushi"

"And it was hell to do that" Shiori had woken up and sat up on her hospital bed.

"The doctor made several experiments to try to make me the "ultimate weapon" he wanted to use my kekkei genkai to advantage but has failed several times" She told us many things that the doctor had done. There was a possibility that she still held some things secret, but I was glad with what Shiori shared with us.

"I knew that blind eye of yours didn't appear naturally…" Hisashi commented and snapped me out of my own thoughts.

"Yes. But there is not much I can do. He is dead now, and I'm free"

Y'all I'm back. The reason it took so long was because I was busy with fictober when I was supposed to post the chapter so it got uphold, but now it's back!


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